SG-1's Long Trek Home
by Almedha
Summary: An every-day boring trip through the Stargate takes Jack, Daniel, Teal'c, and Sam where no one has gone before. Well, sort of.
1. Manual Override

_I love punny titles; I do. This is the first chapter in what may turn out to be a long series about SG-1 in the Star Trek universe that I fully intend to continue. It seemed perfect to me, so here I am. It's been an incredibly long time since I watched a lot of TNG episodes, so some of those characters may be a little odd... Also, toward the end of this I got impatient and rushed it. SG-1 would be some time in season 4, early 2000s shortly after "Crossroads." And, for TNG, this particular part takes place in season 2._

_Comments/reviews would be incredibly appreciated and I hope the story is as enjoyable to read as it was to write!_

_None of this is owned by me and all that stuff._

* * *

**Chapter 1: Manual Override**

_Typical day in the life_, Jack thought. Too bad, because the last three planets they'd gone to were perfect examples of Daniel Jackson's favorite type of mission. It wasn't that Jack didn't like the odd mission when they weren't fleeing from some trigger-happy Goa'uld, but he also would have liked to have a little less culture-exploring and more weapons-getting. That was what the program was for, wasn't it?

That was something Daniel didn't seem to understand. He was always asking Jack if he comprehended the impact of whatever culture they had just run into… Daniel didn't know that not only did Jack not care to comprehend the impact, or whatever; Jack just didn't care to comprehend the question. In fact, Jack's favorite question was becoming a sarcastic rasp of "What?"

But that wasn't all in response to Daniel's intellectual mutterings. Major Samantha Carter spoke in complex scientific riddles that Jack couldn't have cared less about. Smiling and nodding worked well when she was on a rampage of technical explanations. She already knew that Jack had no clue what she was saying and really didn't want to know, but she would rarely draw out his ignorance on whatever subject she was currently expounding upon, and didn't seem to care when she knew that Jack simply wasn't listening. Daniel, on the other hand, did.

Daniel Jackson's office was just ahead on the left, where he was, no doubt, preparing for a mission that promised to tax their resident ancient languages and cultures expert to his threshold. Jack hovered in indecision in the hallway outside his office when he saw the doctor hunched over a pair of notebooks, feverishly scribbling in one with the pen in his hand. Jack hadn't a clue what purpose the pencil clenched in his teeth served. He seemed to be transcribing something from one notebook to the other as he glanced between them.

Jack stood there for several seconds, wondering if Daniel had even noticed that he was not the only Tau'ri on Earth. He routinely forgot things like that, locked in his own little world of ancient cultures and languages. Increasingly, lately... Jack thought it was best to ignore it and wait for it to go away. _Yeah_, Jack thought to himself. _Because that always works. _But it wasn't like he was going to talk to Daniel about it, either.

He recalled Daniel giving surplus details about the aliens that lived on the planet P-029T: something about Latin, Ancients… Something-or-other that Jack chose to ignore. No matter how many times Daniel explained it, Jack would either not understand or not care. It was a relationship that had worked for them for about four years now, more or less, and Jack wasn't anxious to change it now. Whatever the case, mention of aliens of any kind notoriously meant either trouble or apathy. It was a big universe and, unfortunately, everyone was out for themselves. It was a tough place to be for a little species like those that called the planet Earth home.

The aliens on P-029T had no technology that would be useful in defense against the Goa'uld, making this an expedition with the express purpose of quenching a thirst for cultural knowledge which Jack did not share. He would have requested to sit this one out in favor of a fishing trip, but that request had never worked for him before. Jack could only hold out hope that this mission would be at least a little interesting.

"Can I help you, Jack?" Daniel asked, squeezing a glance up between looking at his two books.

Jack whipped his wrist out of his sleeve and consulted his watch. Ten minutes until departure. He looked at Daniel, who seemed barely ready to leave. "We're out of here in ten minutes," he informed him with a tinge of sarcasm coloring his voice. He wandered into the office and fiddled with a small but important-looking artifact with a tag attached to it. Jack didn't look at it, but tossed it from one hand to the other with the express purpose of annoying Daniel.

Daniel leaned over his desk and snatched the artifact from the air. "Please," he said, setting it down carefully and looking at it critically. Then he looked back up at Jack and answered flippantly, "I know." He was annoyed. Jack's work was done. Jack lazed toward the gateroom, taking just enough time to see Daniel scramble out of his office and down the concrete hallway. Seeing Daniel Jackson in a panic was entertaining, indeed. Sometimes the only entertainment Jack got out of this place.

Picking up his P-90 and backpack on the way, Jack supposed he might get to the gateroom before anyone else. Besides Teal'c, of course. Teal'c was always punctual and prepared. Teal'c always took up residence at the foot of the ramp to the Stargate fifteen to twenty minutes before they had to go, his staff weapon gripped before him with both hands. He stared at the Stargate in what might have been construed as silent reverence and awe. That was, however, how he looked at almost everything.

Teal'c nodded at Jack, his customary greeting. "O'Neill."

"Teal'c," Jack said back. That was the extent of most of their conversations, even though Jack had counted Teal'c among his friends for many years now. Teal'c made for great inside information on their archenemies, the Goa'uld, but he was not one for small talk. But that was one of the things Jack really liked about him. Jack could talk about nothing all he wanted, and Teal'c would never bother to stop him. "See that sky today?" he asked.

Teal'c looked at Jack, a clearly disinterested twist in his eyebrow. "I did not," he answered. Teal'c, having a Goa'uld in a pouch in his stomach and that strange gold emblem over his eyes, lived in the mountain. He rarely stepped outside, not even if to go to the secluded fishing spot that Jack called his own.

The blast door to the control room was wide open, revealing only three people on the other side. Walter, the guy who called out the chevrons, sat in his chair looking at a computer screen. Jack sometimes wondered if that was all that he did, but never asked because he knew he would end up regretting it. There were two other scientist-types in white lab coats looking at the board of switches and gadgets in the back of the room. Then General Hammond walked into the control room and started talking to Walter.

Jack was distracted until Sam ambled into the gateroom, pulling a green cap onto her head. "Hey, guys," she said with a smile.

"Major Carter," Teal'c said, nodding at Sam the same way he had to Jack.

"Major Carter," Jack mimicked, nodding, too.

A glance at the clock on the wall of the gateroom indicated that Daniel had all of two minutes to get there before someone would get annoyed. Namely, General Hammond. It seemed like Daniel was always late, or, at least, Jack didn't notice when he was on time. "Colonel O'Neill?" General Hammond asked over the microphone from the control room. "Where is Doctor Jackson?"

"He's coming, sir," Jack informed him with a trite smile.

As if on cue, Daniel Jackson ran in through the blast door, put on his little hat, and stood next to Teal'c. And there it was, the signature to a masterpiece. Jack, Sam, and Teal'c exchanged glances, and then looked up at the General. He looked rather annoyed at Daniel, but he knew two things: first, Daniel could not be replaced today; and second, Jack simply wouldn't let the general replace Daniel. Ever.

Jack smiled and swung about to watch the gate's red chevrons pop in and out, lighting up like a weird Christmas tree. Jack couldn't wait to get this mission over with. The briefing had revealed that the aliens seemed to be stuck in technological loop, not getting any more or less advanced for hundreds of years. To Jack, that meant even if they were friendly, they had nothing to offer in the way of defense technology. On the other hand, Daniel and Sam found this "technological loop" extremely interesting for some reason.

Walter shouted out chevrons encoded and the final one was "locked." Probably just to switch it up, Jack wondered. The general wished them luck and they headed up the ramp to cross the galaxy in a single step. Jack turned to offer the general one last slack salute before going after his team. It seemed to last only a few seconds as brilliant blue light in swirling blackness rushing by him before he stepped out on the other side. A moment later, Jack was inhaling the alien atmosphere that smelled peculiarly like downtown Colorado Springs.

That was when he saw the rest of his team, looking around at the strange brown walls with geometric shapes arranged artistically over them. In the center of the room, instead of the familiar dial-home-device, there was a circular panel of various glowing triangles of three colors. As if that were not odd enough, they were greeted—or, rather, not greeted—by three natives, only one of which appeared entirely human.

One of them, an average-sized person that looked human, with the exceptions of yellow-tinted pasty skin and amber eyes, turned to the bald human in red and black pajamas and said, "That was not… manual override."

Jack would have been extremely interested in whatever conversation might have followed, except that Daniel had already started introducing them. "I'm Daniel, this is Sam, that's Teal'c and…" Jack decided to only half-listen while taking a closer look at his surroundings. That was when he saw it… or, rather, did not see it.

There was no Stargate. A door-shaped portal hovered in mid-air, cycling through various landscapes, none of which were their gate room on Earth. "Daniel?" he said, turning around and looking at the lack of enormous ring in the room which was obviously too small to accommodate one anyway. "Daniel."

"And this is Jack. We're from..."

"Daniel!"

Daniel looked at Jack for a moment, maybe surprised or irritated, and finally turned around. "Oh…"

Teal'c and Sam followed suit, Teal'c looking as confused as possible and Sam swearing.

"Stargate…?" the man in pajamas whispered to the one with yellow eyes.

"Captain!"

Jack whirled around to see a third native, though this was like no native of anywhere Jack had ever seen. His strange forehead spoke of either a ridged skull or odd bunching of cartilage underneath. He pointed some type of device at them, his eyes hovering on Teal'c with skepticism. Teal'c had lowered his staff to fire. "Where did they come from?" the big man asked.

"Colonel O'Neill?" Teal'c asked.

"I don't know, Mr. Worf, just… stay calm," the man in red-and-black answered.

"What he said, Teal'c… Captain?" Jack said, looking over his shoulder at the bald man and smug that, at least on Earth in the Air Force, he outranked him. "I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill. We're from Earth."

"Earth?" the captain repeated, looking at his yellow-eyed friend. "Data, how is this possible?"

"That's what I want to know," Jack said to Daniel. "Where is the Stargate?" Receiving no answer: not a good indication. "Sam? Captain? Anyone?"

"Here!" Daniel said, waving one hand at the picture-door and running the other through his hair. He laughed nervously. "This is the 'Gate." He hesitated a moment and then added, "This is impossible."

"They could be Iconian," the captain observed. "Data?"

"No record survives of the appearance of an Iconian, Captain, merely legends and hearsay," the one with amber eyes, Data, explained. "However, these costumes appear to be from Earth… early twenty-first century United States military uniforms, sir. But I am unfamiliar with any organization from that time-frame with the acronym _SG-1_."

"There is no time Captain," Mr. Worf insisted before Jack could put his two cents in about how SG-1 was supposed to be a secret and what did he mean _early twenty-first century_. "The Romulans…!"

"Romulan?" Daniel interrupted. Jack shot him a look that clearly said _not now_, but Daniel apparently read it as Jack begging to have it explained what Romulans were. "Well, Romulus and Remus were figures in Roman mythology, twins raised by wolves, but…"

"Yes, they were," the captain said, raising an eyebrow at Daniel. "You're interested in Earth's history?"

Daniel laughed nervously again and admitted, "I'm an archaeologist."

"Really?" The captain sounded ultimately pleased. "And do you know what this is? The gateway?" he asked, motioning at the non-Stargate as it continued to cycle through its landscapes. Still, none of them were home… "You called it a Stargate?"

"Excuse me, Captain?" Jack interrupted. The man in red-and-black looked at him with raised eyebrows, but Jack had already turned his attention back to Daniel. "Do you want to tell me what is going on here?"

Daniel shook his head. "I really don't know, Jack; I really don't know."

"Well, we cannot leave you here," the captain said then, and turned to Data. Weird name, Jack thought momentarily before refocusing all of his energies onto the conversation at hand. "Data, have you been able to decipher these panels?" he asked, laying a hand on what looked like a table in front of him.

Daniel leaned in for a closer look and then looked at Jack. Jack could only assume that Daniel hadn't the slightest idea what they were. Which meant, like their dear Mr. Worf over there, that this place was obviously not Earth-based in any way. Data looked down and started pushing random buttons and, for a moment, Jack started to like Data. And then he started spewing some kind of techno-babble that sounded a lot like Sam, but less pretty.

"I believe I have gained access to the underground power source that powers this room," Data reported.

"Let me take a look…" Daniel went to stand next to Data and chuckled when he saw. "My god, Jack, it's Ancient. A weird… weird, convoluted version of Ancient, but it's still—this is Ancient." Jack was sometimes surprised that Daniel could get a sentence out straight when he was excited…

"You can read this?" the captain asked.

"No, no, not exactly," Daniel answered. "Well, sort of. What—don't touch that!" As he spoke, Data manipulated the controls before him, pressing buttons at random again, while Daniel tried to stop him. But, apparently, too late. A bolt of blue energy struck out from the center console, straight into Data's head and Daniel's chest.

Daniel was flung back against the wall behind him, while Data froze like a statue and collapsed.

"Daniel!" Sam yelped, and ran to his side. Teal'c leveled his staff weapon at the offending ball of electricity at the center of the console.

"What the hell just happened?" Jack demanded while the captain and Mr. Worf tended to Data. When he didn't get an immediate answer, he followed Sam to check on Daniel, even though it didn't look good. Why always Daniel? But, then again, in the past, a sarcophagus had always been handy…

"I don't know what that did to him, sir," Sam said, attempting to steady her voice from the sudden rush of adrenaline. She checked his neck for a pulse and then cleared some of his hair away from his forehead, even though Jack wasn't sure what purpose that served. "He's alive, but not responding."

"We must return him to Dr. Frasier for medical treatment," Teal'c said.

"Yeah, well, if you could suggest a way to do that, Teal'c, I'd be more than happy to."

He turned to their companions just in time to hear Data stammer, "Blue-amber-amber-red."

"And the override sequence for the launch doors?" the captain prodded, to which Data said "blue" three times. The captain looked at Mr. Worf. "I hope that wasn't a stutter. Mr. Worf, you must get Data and our guests through the gateway to the _Enterprise_. I will launch the probes and override the launch bay and come through afterward."

"But Captain!" Mr. Worf objected.

"Yeah, Captain," Jack agreed. "We can't go through this thing to anywhere but home, you got that?"

"This place must be destroyed," the captain said. Jack was too shocked to respond. "The malfunctions this technology is causing to my ship could destroy it at any moment, and this place must not be allowed to fall into Romulan hands." He sighed as he looked around. "Though it is a shame. I would have liked the opportunity to study it more."

"Study it?" Jack repeated, and then his mind suddenly came back to him. "You can't destroy it! This is our only way home."

"The location you came from has not cycled through again," Mr. Worf reported. He had put Data on his back and was standing before the gateway. "You have no choice but to follow. The _Enterprise_ is almost here."

"But what about Daniel?" Jack asked them both, the sinking feeling of defeat settling in the pit of his stomach.

"We have doctors that are more than capable of helping him," the captain assured him. "Now, go."

Teal'c shouldered Daniel. "We have limited options, O'Neill."

Jack fingered his gun and then nodded to Carter to follow Mr. Worf. Teal'c was right. Who knew how bad Daniel was, and they would need him to figure out how to dial the damn thing anyway. Seeing as Daniel was out-of-commission and every conscious person in the place knew about as much as Jack did about what was going on, the chances of them getting home at all were slim.

Now none. Because the captain was going to destroy it.

The gateway's picture changed again, this time to a beige and tope place with people wandering about back and forth dressed in the same uniforms as the captain, Mr. Worf, and Data. "Here!" Worf announced, and stepped through. Teal'c went next, then Sam. Jack, with one final look at the captain and then at the gate, went in after.

It was nothing really like gate-travel. The universe didn't seem to shake, and there was nothing to look at during the travel-time. In fact, the shock in the different smells and the temperature was almost enough to knock him off of his feet. In addition, the ground beneath him seemed to be moving somehow. He took a moment to regard his feet and make sure they were steady beneath him before looking up.

He found a bearded man in black and red pajamas like the captain staring at him. "Mr. Worf. Who…? What is this?"

"It would take too long to explain," Mr. Worf sighed.

"I see," the man said, scrutinizing each of Jack's team in turn.

"One of them requires medical attention and I must get Data to engineering," he said, plodding away in the direction, Jack assumed, of engineering. He disappeared through a door, leaving Jack, Sam, and Teal'c staring at a bunch of people in colorful pajamas who were, in turn, staring back at them.

"Well," the bearded man said, turning to them after a moment. "Welcome to the _Enterprise_."


	2. Examination

**Chapter 2: Examination**

"I know it looks bad, but he'll be fine." The resident doctor with curly white-blond hair wasn't quite able to allay their fears the way Jack had hoped. Of course, it looked bad! Daniel was unconscious, barely breathing last he checked. Concern for Daniel was one thing, Jack was at least used to that. But concern for whatever facility they had stepped into was new, as the lights swept on and off at unpredictable intervals. "Now, if you'll just sit down…"

"I'm not sitting down, damn it!" Jack snarled, side-stepping her wild scanning devices. "You already waved one of these little coin-rolls in my face. What else do you want?" When he passed a table scattered with medical devices, he picked up a small cylinder with a flashing red light at the top and shook it, staring at it. It was apparently not as interesting as whatever Sam was staring at in the far wall, so he tossed it back onto the table. Some kind of massive television-screen, Jack decided, that didn't show the latest game.

"Sir," Sam said, pointing at the display of hideous orange and blue on black. "This is a depiction of human DNA."

"Fascinating," Jack rasped, coming up on his toes before slamming back down to his heels. He reached for his P-90, but remembered that it had been taken away. His frustration renewed, he turned back to the good doctor, who was now giving Teal'c a hard time about taking a seat.

"I feel well," Teal'c assured her in his monotone. "An examination is not necessary."

The doctor grunted in exasperation. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do with you three! If everyone wasn't so busy with the malfunctions, you would probably be taken care of by now." She idly checked on Daniel for a moment, scanning him with her little scan-thingy and staring at the read-out-whatsit in her hand. When it told her nothing interesting, she paused, and then collected herself with a sigh. "I don't know that we've been _properly_ introduced. I am Doctor Katherine Pulaski, the Chief Medical Officer on the _Enterprise_. You can call me… Katherine," she decided after a moment.

Sam smiled her best smile, that almost signature grin that she adopted when she was meeting someone new. "I'm Major Samantha Carter, but everyone calls me Sam," she answered, offering her hand. Katherine seemed pleased that at least one of them was cordial. "I'm sorry about our less-than-friendly attitudes. Today's been a… strange day," she explained.

Katherine laughed somewhat lightheartedly and went back to Daniel's side with different scan-thingy. Jack watched with mild interest, if only to make sure it didn't do anything harmfully invasive. "It sounds like it's been one of those for all of us!" she said.

"Well…" Sam said carefully with a small smile, "I'll bet ours was stranger."

"No doubt," Teal'c said without warning, after apparently considering it for a while, "we are in some sort of alternate universe, Major Carter."

"Alternate universe?" Katherine breathed. "That does sound like a strange day. You came up from the planet? I haven't been briefed on—well, anything. I can't imagine anyone has. The communications have been up and down all day. As you can probably tell." Katherine growled as the lights went off and on again. "I can't wait to hear what's been going on since the _Yamato_ exploded."

"The… _Yamato_?" Teal'c repeated.

"I can't wait to hear what's happened, either," Jack interrupted, striding to the middle of the room between Katherine and Sam. "Your captain has all but promised to blow up our only way home."

"Sir," Sam sighed. "If this is alternate universe, then there will be other Stargates like there are in our universe. Maybe even one on Earth."

"Maybe," Jack reminded. "In case you didn't notice, the Stargate on the planet didn't exactly need a Stargate here for it to work!" Sam pondered that quietly, which, Jack guessed, was a bad sign. If Sam didn't know what was going on, then no one did. In fact, the only person that seemed to have given any lucid thought to the situation was Teal'c. But, then, maybe Sam and Jack were preoccupied with their concern for Daniel?

Yeah. Jack was going to go with that. Give Sam a few minutes to arrange her thoughts.

"Stargate," Katherine repeated. "What is a Stargate?"

Sam started to explain, but Jack held a hand up in her face. She needed to explain nothing. She needed to _figure out_ everything. "Ah-ah! Sam." Jack turned to Katherine. "It's a big ring-thing that makes a wormhole that allows people like me, Sam, Teal'c, and Daniel over there to travel between planets."

Sam shrugged and muttered, "Basically, yeah."

"Major Carter," Teal'c said. "There is no way to know if there would be a Stargate on Earth as there is in our universe. I also see no evidence of Goa'uld presence either now or in their past. This universe is entirely different from our own in every way."

"They don't have the ring-thing," Jack objected, drawing a large circle in the air with his finger.

"No, but they have something similar enough that when we—somehow—went through the wormhole on our side, it dumped us out here," Sam agreed. _That's my Sam_, Jack thought, smiling a little. Maybe she could get them out of this. Or not... "On the other hand, judging from the number of options that cycled through _their_ gate, the computer didn't have the ability to compensate for stellar drift over a couple hundred of thousands of years. But who am I kidding? We can't even think about getting back until we figure out why this happened in the first place. Reverse it."

"We can't think about getting back without a 'Gate, either," Jack corrected, folding his arms over his chest. "They both seem pretty important to me."

"Could this not have something to do with the Quantum Mirror we discovered on P3R-223?" Teal'c asked. _Thank you, Teal'c!_ Was he seriously the only one thinking today?

"I don't think so; this is nothing like any alternate reality we've ever seen," Sam sighed.

Katherine, meanwhile, had been watching the conversation with great fascination crossed with horror, which was about half of what Jack was feeling. He could only imagine himself in a couple years, walking around in colorful pajamas like these clowns. But where, exactly, were they walking around?

"The _Enterprise_," Jack said, turning to Katherine. "What, exactly, is the _Enterprise_?"

"It's a ship," Katherine answered, and then turned to the display on the wall that Sam had been studying. "Computer, please show us a picture of the _Enterprise_."

"Interior schematic or exterior?" the computer returned in a fabricated female voice.

"Exterior," Katherine answered.

The display of human DNA was swapped out for the weirdest-looking ship Jack had ever seen. It was… hard to explain. There was some sort of saucer or upside-down bowl on some kind of… thing. "How is that a ship?" Jack asked.

"Sir, I think that's a spaceship," Sam said.

Jack squinted at it and Teal'c informed everyone, "It does not match the configuration of any Goa'uld ship that I know."

"Goa'uld," Katherine repeated. "You've said that before. What are Goa'uld?"

"Parasites," Sam explained.

"Snakes," Jack answered.

"False gods," Teal'c said.

Katherine frowned at all of them, and gave Teal'c a funny look when he started unbuttoning his shirt. Jack didn't realize what he was doing and, by the time he did, it was too late. Junior had poked his ugly head from the cavity in Teal'c stomach and screeched. "This is a Goa'uld."

"Teal'c!" Jack warned, but Katherine had already pretty much screamed in abject horror. Or perhaps that was a gasp of total fascination. All the doctors that Jack knew had a weird way of looking at gross and/or boring things. Jack would have screamed when he first saw one if he hadn't been so angry at life. And here he was again, a Goa'uld in his face, and all he wanted to do was throw a nuclear bomb at it. "Teal'c, put Junior back!"

"What is that?" Katherine asked, retrieving her devices and thrusting them in Teal'c's direction. "Is it really a parasite?"

"Well, sort of," Sam said with that expression she got when she was about to go into painful detail about something. Jack tried to think of something to interrupt her, but couldn't think of anything. "It also…"

"Jack…" Ah. Perfect distraction.

"Daniel." Jack went over to him and realized that the slate he was lying on probably wasn't all that comfortable. It didn't really matter when he was unconscious. Daniel blinked groggily, as though he'd only just woken up from a long sleep, and not zapped by an angry computer program. "You have got to stop almost getting killed."

"I'll keep that in mind," he chuckled softly and put one hand on his forehead, wincing in pain. "God, my head. What happened?"

"The Stargate kind of zapped you," Jack answered.

"But, I'm happy to report that you will be just fine with a little rest," Katherine put in. "My name is Doctor Katherine Pulaski."

"Daniel," Daniel offered. "Doctor Daniel Jackson." He grimaced painfully again, squeezing his eyes shut. That put Katherine Pulaski in action.

She seized a nearby instrument, tapped into the miniature display, and went straight for Daniel's neck with it. Jack had no idea what it was, but generally the saying was that when people went for the neck, it wasn't a good thing. He struck his hand out and seized hers before she could touch Daniel with it. He caught Doctor Pulaski with a serious glare just as she looked at him in slight confusion.

"I assure you, it's perfectly safe," she said with a small smile, touching the thing to her own neck. There was the sound of a small hydraulic releasing, but nothing seemed to have happened to her. "It's just a mild pain-killer. For his head," she added, then looking at Daniel. "You took a bit of a nasty bump."

Daniel chuckled, obviously in pain. "You're not kidding."

The lights went down and back up again as Doctor Pulaski administered the pain-killer. Then a voice from nowhere spoke everywhere. "Attention, all hands." It was the voice of the bearded man they'd seen on the bridge. "We've found a way to purge the system; we're out of the woods."

Katherine flashed a celebratory smile at them while the voice went one to say, "Doctor Pulaski, how are our guests?"

Katherine tapped a decoration on her chest, what Jack had assumed was a medal of some sort, and said, "As far as I can tell by inspection, they're all fine."

"The one that was injured?" he prodded.

"He is going to be fine, too," she said, patting Daniel on the shoulder.

"Good. As soon as he can be up, Captain Picard would like to see them."

"Captain Picard?" Jack mouthed to Sam. She shrugged.

"I will have them sent up to his ready room at the first opportunity."

"Thank you, Doctor. Riker out."

Doctor Pulaski hit the medal on her shoulder again and looked at them. "That would be a meeting I'd love to see. I've heard lots of stories in my day, some really crazy. But yours, I think, takes the cake." She raised her eyebrows at them with a smile, going about her work in her little domain.


	3. Not in that Order

_**Edit**: I read through this again and found a ton of weird typos that I missed the first time. Also, I apparently only spell O'Neill right half the time so I fixed that, too. Please excuse the awkward lengthiness of this chapter. As well as the Carter/Riker thing going on. I doubt seriously that will continue. But Riker has to be Riker._

* * *

**Chapter 3: Not in that Order**

Daniel slumped on the couch in the "ready room," head in his hand, while Sam did her best to explain what happened. Teal'c stood aside next to Jack. Besides the captain, Data, the artificial intelligence with amber eyes; Commander Riker, the man with the beard; and Deanna Troi, an attractive woman with a mess of curly black hair and black—totally black eyes, had joined them to hear the tale.

Troi gazed at each of them pensively until Sam had finished her spiel. Jack sighed and waited for the accusations of insanity. Hell, Jack would have said that himself. This _was_ crazy. "I sense no deception from any of them, Captain," Troi said quietly, her eyes sad as she looked at them. "They are telling the truth. They really are lost."

"Well, it's definitely the most interesting story I've heard…" the captain pondered, standing from his seat and tugging at the edges of his shirt. "Do you have any idea how it happened?" he asked while he walked over to a hole in the wall and told it, "Tea. Earl Grey. Hot." When it appeared in the wall he smiled and held his mug up to the others as though in celebration. "My compliments to Mr. LaForge."

Riker smiled and nodded. "Better than a potted plant, sir?"

"Indeed," Picard agreed.

"The best thing I can come up with," Sam said tentatively, "is that we somehow… switched realities."

"And went to the future," Jack put in, looking at the stars flying past the singular window in the room. The captain shook his head, either in pity or disbelief. "And we have no way to get back now, _Captain_."

"Jack!" Sam hissed.

"Colonel O'Neill is correct, Major Carter," Teal'c put in. "Without the Stargate, we have no way of returning home to our own reality and our own time. We are trapped."

"I do apologize for that," the captain said, sipping his tea as though he wasn't sorry at all, Jack thought. "The _Enterprise_ was coming apart at the seams. I would have liked to keep the Iconian gateway intact, as well, but not at the expense of over a thousand people on this ship as well as the hands of the Romulan ship."

All of them sat quietly for a while, probably all pondering the problem of what to do now. Data was obviously processing the information, since he had announced as much before he fell silent. "You're all from Earth, then?" Riker asked, maybe just to fill the silence. He leaned forward on one knee and stared at them, his expression telling how interested he was, unless he was good at lying with his expression. If that were true, Jack surmised, he would be an excellent poker-player.

"I am not," Teal'c answered.

"But the rest of us, yeah," Sam put in.

"Captain," Troi spoke up, smiling a little at Riker. "I think I know where he's going with this." Then she looked at Jack, Sam, and Daniel. "If you're all from Earth, it's perfectly possible your counterparts in this universe may have some descendants. We could look through the records." She smiled a large but sincere smile with incredibly clean teeth, Jack thought. He knew she was trying to be helpful, but Jack figured his past without the Stargate was only an indication of what his future was: boring, lonely, depressing.

He pulled himself out of his self-absorbed thoughts in time to see Daniel bury his face in his hands and Sam shrug.

"Not a bad idea, Counselor," Captain Picard agreed. "Even if we found some of your relatives, they would be far-removed and we aren't scheduled to go back to Earth for quite some time. In the meantime, we have to figure out what to do with you."

"Of course, we have many empty rooms on the lower decks; you could easily stay with us," Troi said.

"Naturally. We would be happy to have you," the captain agreed. "After all, it's by our doing that you can't go back to your own time." The captain spun the mug in his hand, studying it intensely before looking at Troi. "But we can't very well just have them bide their time here, Counselor. Doctor Jackson," he went on, looking squarely at Daniel. "You said something about your interest in archeology." Daniel nodded mutely, and the captain soldiered on. "Surely, you could work with some of Starfleet's experts on Iconia."

"Yes, Captain," Troi agreed enthusiastically. "Surely all of you have something you enjoy doing. You could definitely contribute here, to pass the time. It might make you feel more at home."

Jack noticed that she said nothing about the possibility of them ever getting home. "With all due respect," he muttered. "This isn't home."

"She's right, Jack," Daniel sighed finally, looking up from his continual staring at the red-carpeted floor. "For all we know, we could be here forever. We may as well get used to it." Jack glared at Daniel. Had everyone gone completely crazy?

"Though, of course, we hope we can find a way to get you home," Captain Picard put in. "Now, Teal'c, was it? Your… weapon was very interesting to us. We have never seen anything like it before; perhaps you would be interested in showing our scientists and security chief how it works and how you use it?"

Teal'c bowed his head in affirmation.

Sam was obviously very excited, "I would love to learn more about the technology that you have here. I'm a—was a very respected scientist back on Earth in the twenty-first century. If it's possible, I would like to get to work as soon as possible trying to figure out what got us here in the first place."

"We have facilities that would more than accommodate you," Captain Picard said. "And you, Colonel O'Neill?"

Jack shrugged and said, "Honestly, sir, the only thing that I'm good at is fishing."

"Fishing," the captain repeated, smiling a little. "Well, we can accommodate that, too. Commander Riker, our guests will require quarters near each other."

"I will see to it personally, sir," Commander Riker said with a nod as he stood.

"Thank you." Everyone in the room stood, except for Data who still seemed to be processing. "You are welcome to stay on the _Enterprise_ for as long as you like. We kept you in our universe; it's only fair that we keep you comfortable at least. Our house, as they say, is your house."

Jack smiled sarcastically at him and shrugged saying, "Thanks, Captain." Sam elbowed him in the ribs none-too-kindly for it, but Jack didn't regret it at all. They were in one hell of a mess because of him and those Romulans, which Jack was beginning to suspect had absolutely nothing to do with the mythology-Romulan. Wouldn't Daniel be disappointed?

Riker led them out of the ready room and onto the bridge.

Jack hadn't noticed until now that Riker had been giving Sam a very strange look on-and-off through the session in the captain's ready room. Well, perhaps not "strange," since Jack was well-aware what it meant. He wasn't surprised when he lingered in her doorway a few minutes to talk to her after showing them their rooms.

They were boring and bland rooms, but at least Jack knew Teal'c would be happy with it. He liked the dark concrete rooms in the mountain back home…

"Now," Riker said to all of them. "We can go to Ten-Forward which is the lounge in the forward of the saucer section on deck 10. As the name suggests," he added with a smile. Sam smiled then, too, and Jack rolled his eyes. "Or I could bring you by the holodeck."

Before anyone could voice their own opinions, Jack tapped his hand on the doorjamb leading into his room. "I'm actually pretty beat, thanks."

"Yeah, me, too," Daniel said.

"It has been many hours since I engaged in Kelno'reem," Teal'c said. "I require candles."

"Oh," Riker looked confused and then went to show Teal'c how to get the "replicator" to give him candles. Sam was utterly fascinated by the replicator and would have had endless questions to ask about it had they not had to vacate Teal'c's room shortly thereafter so he could meditate.

Sam was interested in looking up her counterpart's family on Earth, so Riker showed them that, too. Each of the rooms was equipped with a little computer that looked like a laptop without a keyboard or a mouse. Riker spoke to it and it responded, like the replicator and the computer in the medical center. They found that the Sam of this universe, while doing nothing remarkable besides achieving an impressive rank in the Air Force and joining the astronaut program, had a family that lived all over the Earth and many on far-flung colonies. Many of her descendants were in Starfleet.

Daniel and Jack had less-intriguing stories. Daniel had been a failure of an academic in this universe, as he might have been in theirs, had he not been right about the most idiotic theory there was. There was very little about him except that he lived alone, traveling the globe looking for proof for his bizarre theories. Jack's family history was even less-impressive. After a short marriage seemingly destined to end in tragedy, Jack lived alone on a little lake with no fish in it about a day's drive from Colorado Springs.

Riker seemed disappointed with the results, but Sam was glad to see that most of her descendants, at least in this universe, led very interesting lives, even if they weren't all that important in the grand scheme of things. "Josephine Campell," Sam read one of the names. "She works on a starbase?"

"Looks like Starbase 111," Riker agreed.

"Cool."

"Cool?" Riker asked, one eyebrow raised.

"At least I know," Jack broke in, "that even in another universe where everything is completely different, I am still the same."

"At least we know that," Daniel agreed sarcastically. "I'm going to my room." He left Sam's room and went across the hall.

"Maybe that was a bad idea," Riker allowed.

"No, he'll be fine. It's just been a bad day," Sam assured Riker pleasantly, even though Jack was sure her words should have been anything but pleasant.

"Bad last couple of years for Daniel," Jack reminded, and headed out of the room. He thought for a moment that he didn't want to leave Sam alone with the commander, but then he figured that Sam was a grown-up and could take care of herself. She could probably take care of herself better than Daniel could, he considered with a wry smile. It was obviously true in this universe.

Instead of going to his room, Jack went to Daniel's door and pressed in the button for the doorbell that Riker had showed them. Daniel would have to say on the inside whether he could come in or not, but he eventually did, and Jack stepped inside and watched the door close behind him on its own. Like magic, Jack thought with a smile.

"I need a door like that at home," he commented.

Daniel slouched in a chair, staring blankly across the room at the bank of windows that allowed a plain sight of the nothingness outside. Jack's was next door, which meant that Jack and Daniel had window-rooms. They could watch the foreign stars zoom past their window while they pondered the possibility and reality of life without the Stargate, without Earth, without hope of a way home.

Jack didn't know what to say, now, since Daniel obviously hadn't anything to say about the door. He guessed there was nothing to say, nothing of importance. But, then, Jack never said anything of importance. Except now he actually had something to say. "We have one advantage…" Jack pondered, tapping at the controls for the replicator. The replicator, Riker had informed them, made alcohol-free beer. Stupid idea, but better than nothing. He asked for two beers, and handed one to Daniel. He took it without looking at it.

"I'm so different, Jack, without the Stargate…" Daniel said before Jack could expound upon his singular thought. Jack tasted the fizzy brown liquid, and found it terrible. Definitely not worth the lack of alcohol. Jack put it back into the replicator's cavity. "Without the Stargate…" Daniel was saying, "I was nothing. I was never right. No aliens. Never met Sha're. Never married."

"Never met you," Jack filled in for himself. "I guess a few things changed. But I was a selfish old bastard without the Stargate as well as I was with it."

Daniel chuckled darkly. "We're never getting home, are we?"

Jack shrugged. Things looked grim from here, sure. But, still, they had that one advantage. "Iconians," he pondered. "They're basically Ancients, right?" Daniel shrugged, but nodded even though he seemed to be unconvinced that they were. That was good enough for Jack. "There, you see? You know more about the Iconians than anyone in this universe. We have the advantage of our universe."

"I guess you're right, but Jack!" Daniel objected. "It would take a lifetime for me to figure out how to read Iconian. Much less figure out where another gate is. Not to mention what Sam said. We can't get home without knowing how we got here. We can't get back if we can't somehow reverse whatever did this in the first place."

"We'll leave that to Sam," Jack answered. "She'll figure out how to get us home. But, Daniel. You have to find the gate."

Daniel pinched his lips together and rubbed at his eyes with one hand. "Jack…" he whispered, but Jack didn't let him finish.

"We'll figure out what happened, find a gate, and get home," Jack said. "Not necessarily in that order."


	4. ABCs and Guinan

_Chapter 4. Things start to get serious. Okay, not really. They're starting to start to get serious, then. Sam's point of view is awkward for me, so sorry about that bit... I also lost Jack's voice somewhere between Daniel and Teal'c. I hope I find it soon. But other than that, I am mostly pleased with this chapter..._

* * *

**Chapter 4: ABCs... and Guinan**_  
_

"Archeology." Captain Picard went to the replicator and said, "Would you like anything?"

"I'm good, thanks," Daniel said, trying to smile. He always felt intimated by these military-types, and Captain Picard certainly seemed one to him. But he couldn't reconcile the love for archeology with the strict hierarchy that existed on the _Enterprise_, with the captain so obviously at the top.

"Very well," the captain said, and asked for Earl Grey tea. "When I was a boy at the Academy, archaeology couldn't have interested me less. But my archaeology professor, Richard Galen, made it interesting, important. In time, I found very little else more important or interesting. In fact, he offered that I work with him after my academy years as an archeologist."

Daniel smiled at his recollection, though he himself had very different experiences regarding archaeology. "What happened, then?"

"It was a difficult decision to make, but I ultimately turned him down because, no matter how fascinating I found archaeology, I knew that being a starship captain was what I really wanted. What about you? What started you on the path to being an archeologist?"

"My parents," Daniel answered. "They were both archaeologists. Actually, most of my family were."

"Ah. So your love for archeology was cultivated from a young age," Captain Picard surmised, sipping at his tea.

"Actually, no," Daniel said quietly, adjusting his glasses awkwardly. "They, uh, they died when I was eight and my grandfather declined to adopt me. But I guess the smattering of exposure I'd gotten to archeology was enough to put me in that direction anyway. I suppose, it was my own archaeology professor who really pointed me in that direction, as well. Reinforced the notion."

"I see…" Captain Picard said.

_Way to go, Daniel,_ he thought to himself. No better way to kill a perfectly good conversation than to mention his dead parents. "I suppose I probably should have forgotten about it, though," he laughed. "The most important theory of my career in any universe seems to have been that the pyramids were built by aliens as landing pads for their spaceships."

He'd meant it as a joke, but Captain Picard didn't seem to think it was so funny. "It's not so ludicrous if you're right," Captain Picard pointed out.

_True,_ Daniel thought. "The Daniel Jackson in your universe wasn't."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Captain Picard said. "After all, your presence here shows that our universes are, even if in a small way, linked somehow. In a way, I suppose your presence and your experiences validate his theories."

Daniel hadn't thought of it that way… But he still thought of his counterpart in this universe as a total failure. He had been only a hair's breadth away from that in his own universe, anyway. It was fairly remarkable that he hadn't been a failure there. Before Catherine Langford. Before Jack O'Neill. Before Sha're.

And now he was beginning to regret not tendering his resignation when she'd died.

But, then again, if not here, where would he be?

"You and your friends are very much like us, Doctor Jackson," the captain went on, perhaps just to fill the silence.

Daniel laughed. "Oh, I doubt that very much." The mere thought of comparing Jack O'Neill, their fearless, tactless leader to the captain was ridiculous. Teal'c and the Head of Security seemed to have something in common, but Daniel could barely figure Teal'c out, so it was hard to tell. Sam… well, Sam was in a league of her own no matter what universe she was in.

"No, really," Captain Picard insisted. "You and your friends are explorers of the stars. Our methods are different, of course, but our goals, our desires, are very much the same."

"We 'explore the stars,' as you put it, to collect weapons and defense technology," Daniel explained. "I don't always agree with it, but our worlds are very, very different, Captain. My world is in constant danger of attack; it's why I do what I do. We have enemies, some horrible enemies that kill and kidnap for enjoyment. They think they're gods."

"That sounds horrifying, but, I think, our world is not all that far from your own."

Daniel shuddered at the thought. With the comparatively limited technological advances that his people and their enemies had next to the _Enterprise_, the Goa'uld now seemed manageable. Perhaps even infantile. What kind of evil, Daniel couldn't help but wonder, could this place cook up?

* * *

"A bat'leth." Worf held up the shining weapon. Teal'c knew it was a weapon, from the four sharp points protruding from the bow-like handle that Worf held. "It is the traditional weapon of a Klingon warrior." He looked at the bat'leth seriously for a moment before appearing to make a decision and flipping the bat'leth over, handle toward Teal'c.

"It is a formidable weapon, indeed," Teal'c agreed, taking it and weighing it in his hands. It was well-balanced in the hands, and Teal'c could tell easily that swinging it toward any living opponent would cause great damage, while harming the blade very little, if at all. "I would like to see it in action."

"You may!" Worf said, sounding like that was exactly what he would have wanted Teal'c to say as he took the bat'leth back. "It has been a long time since I have met an opponent worthy to face me in battle."

"My Ma'Tok staff would likely give me an unfair advantage over such a weapon," Teal'c admitted. "In addition, I doubt your scientists would be pleased to give it back to me at this moment. But I would be pleased to learn the techniques of the bat'leth," he added. "My people are also great warriors in our universe."

"Come," Worf ordered, and left the training room they had been standing in. Teal'c had earlier demonstrated the use and abilities of the Ma'Tok staff weapon in that room, and Worf had been so impressed that he brought his own array of weapons to show Teal'c afterward. Worf had sneered at the staff at first, but Teal'c had easily changed his mind with the blast of power that had almost seared a hole in the wall over his head.

They walked together in silence until they reached a pair of double doors with a computer panel outside of it. Worf said to it, "Klingon calisthenics program three," in a serious tone.

The computer acknowledged his order with a beep, and, after a few moments, said, "Enter when ready."

They walked through the door and Teal'c found himself in a jungle-like environment with scattered ruins reaching up into the trees. A set of weapons, similar in style to Worf's bat'leth, sat propped against one of the walls. Teal'c immediately noticed one that was similar to his staff weapon, though it obviously had no firing ability. He picked it up and turned it over in his hands.

"And excellent choice," Worf approved. "That is a Gin'tak spear."

"I am most familiar with spear-like weapons. I have trained with them since I was a small boy."

"Likewise," Worf said, and twirled his bat'leth in his hand. "Although my adoptive Human parents did not always approve, I have been practicing nearly since I could walk. Thirty of practice has honed my skill with the blade. Are you prepared for battle?"

"Always." Teal'c allowed himself the smallest of smiles. Thirty years.

Worf spoke out, "Computer, begin battle simulation, difficulty level…" He looked at Teal'c and then back out at the landscape before him. "Five."

"At what difficulty do you practice?" Teal'c asked.

"Eleven," Worf answered, tinged of self-importance.

"Then make it so," Teal'c ordered.

Worf looked at him askance, but didn't argue. "Computer. Difficulty level eleven."

"Simulation ready," the computer agreed.

"Engage."

At that precise moment, a multitude of enemies jumped from behind the ruined walls. Green-shaded skull-headed creatures and feathered monsters screeched and taunted a moment before leaping toward them. Worf let loose a battle-cry before rushing forward with his bat'leth, and Teal'c followed suit.

The combat was not simple, but not incredibly difficult, either. Teal'c, after all, had been practicing with weapons such as these for very nearly one-hundred years. To think of all that time, wasted, in the palm of a false god… And now, all the time he was going to waste here so far from his people and any chance of helping them escape bondage as he had, made Teal'c very angry for a moment. And afraid. He felt unstoppable, invincible, and he almost was.

Thrusting his spear into the fabricated ribcage of one of the creatures, Teal'c turned and hurled the creature into another coming at him. He whipped his spear from enemy to enemy, with no regard for his personal safety. It would all be for naught in a few years' time, he thought. His infant Goa'uld would have to mature sometime, and then what would happen to him?

"Teal'c!" Worf shouted, and Teal'c stopped, and turned to him, sweat beading on his brow.

"What?" Teal'c asked. Then he looked around. It appeared that all the enemies had been slaughtered. They lay scattered over the jungle ruins, dispatched by Teal'c's spear and Worf's bat'leth. He then looked at Worf, who showed his pointy teeth in a smile.

"You," Worf said seriously, "would be a formidable addition to any security team."

* * *

"Cosmology, aeronautical engineering, astrophysics, wormhole physics," Sam listed, and then stopped. "Well, I don't have a degree in all of those, but I am well-versed in them, at least in my century."

"An impressive array of knowledge," Data agreed, while a very young "acting ensign" nodded enthusiastically. "Wormhole phsyics is a branch not commonly studied in our universe. To date, all wormholes that have been discovered have no fixed entry and exit point."

"The wormholes I study are artificial in nature," Sam explained, "created by an ancient technology I don't fully understand."

"That is a shame that you do not," Data said. "There are no known stable artificial wormholes at this time, either. However, your knowledge and expertise will likely be of some interest to Starfleet Command, whether your knowledge is complete or not."

"Oh," Sam laughed meekly, "I don't think my knowledge will ever be complete."

The young acting ensign looked at Data and then at Sam. "Do you really travel through wormholes?"

Sam smiled at him and nodded. "Sometimes more than once a week," she answered.

"That is so amazing," he said, looking at Data. "Their technology is so far behind ours, and yet somehow they can do things that most of our scientists have barely even dreamed about."

"That does appear to be so," Data agreed.

"You must be Sam."

Sam spun to look at the person who had spoken, a man in a yellow uniform like the one Data was wearing, with what appeared to be metal glasses strapped over his eyes. "I am," she said. "Sam Carter."

"Of course. You're the only person I don't know in Engineering. I'm Geordi LaForge, Chief Engineer."

"She was just telling us about wormholes," the kid said.

"I'm sure that's very interesting, Wesley, but we have work to do," Geordi told him, flashing a smile at Sam. "I have lots of sensor logs for you to look at, but I'm afraid they're incomplete thanks to the malfunctions that we experienced during the time you would have been incoming in your wormhole." He handed her a hand-held computer of some type, like a notebook, and pointed at various readings on the display.

"It's better than nothing," Sam agreed.

"I can help," Wesley offered.

Geordi smiled, but shook his head. "Thanks, but…"

"No, it's alright," Sam said, tilting the screen a bit so that Wesley could see.

Wesley smiled appreciatively at Sam and promised, "You won't regret it." He moved around to see the screen better than then said, "I could probably clear this up for you a little bit," he said, pointing to a section of the time-graph that showed unreadable static and apparent blank spots. "And that."

"Our wonderboy," Geordi laughed. "I'd love to help, but I've still got to get the warp core back to maximum capacity or we won't be getting anywhere on time. Why don't you show her the science labs, Wes?"

Wesley nodded enthusiastically and led Sam away while they talked about the _Enterprise_'s sensors and all the protocols it had for extrapolating data and cataloguing data. Sam was impressed. Maybe they would get home in time for supper after all…

* * *

Jack walked in through the large double-doors of Ten Forward. The place was almost empty, which was a good thing. For some reason today, Jack didn't have the patience to deal with anything alive. He had been cooped up in his room for the past few days, refusing to emerge, but allowing entrance to Daniel, Sam, or Teal'c regularly. None of them had shown up today, though…

He sighed and looked around. Though he hated to admit it, the wall of windows looking straight ahead offered a… um… stellar view. Jack chuckled softly to himself and walked to the lighted bar.

"You must have a strange sense of humor," a soft, gentle voice said from behind the bar.

Jack turned to see a woman who looked human, but he'd learned better than that in his few days here. Her lack of eyebrows was made up for by the pizza-pan affixed to her head with a habit-like-affair that held back her thick, dreadlock-like hair. Very alien, Jack decided. On the other hand, Jack couldn't imagine that anyone in their right mind might wear the hideous fashions he'd seen on this ship.

"I do, as a matter of fact," he answered. "I'm Jack O'Neill."

"I know who you are," the woman said with a knowing smile. "I'm Guinan."

"Guinan," Jack said with a nod. "Tell me, do you serve anything _real_ here?"

"Real?" Guinan laughed. "You mean alcoholic." She winked and glided off, saying, "I'm not impressed with Starfleet's synthehol guidelines, either. I keep a private selection for just such occasions." Jack followed her around the bowed bar and watched, interested, as she looked beneath her expansive counter. "What do you like?" she asked.

Jack had the impulse to say "beer," but then he looked over his shoulder and saw the stars zooming by over his head and under his feet. This called for something different. "I'm sure you've got something exotic around here?" he asked.

Guinan laughed. "Alcohol is a pride of many Earth cultures, but reached its full flower..." She selected a bottle from underneath and pulled it up, revealing a big glass bottle full to the brim of a neon-green liquid. "With Aldebaran whiskey."

Jack squinted at it skeptically. "Sure," he decided, finally. What was the worst it could do? Kill him? "Set me up."

Guinan pulled out two glasses and poured one for Jack and then one for herself.

"Drinking on the job?" Jack questioned, taking a whiff of the sick-looking fluid in his cup. Guinan just laughed and fingered her glass idly. The alcohol assaulted his nostrils and almost made him cough. So it was that good, huh? He put glass to his lips and took a small sip.

It was sweet, tangy, and bitter… the only word that would accurately describe it was "alien." But it was definitely alcoholic. He smiled and offered a toast. "To Aldebaran whiskey, then'

Guinan chuckled and agreed. "I'll drink to that."

They both sipped their drinks and Guinan set her drink down. Jack, however, was less interested in letting go of the first glass of alcohol he'd seen in this universe. Jack took another drink and then said, "Well, aren't you going to ask me a question or something about how I got here? Or something?"

Guinan shook her head. "No."

"Oh," Jack said. At least she was agreeable. "Well, where do you come from? I don't think you're Human."

She smiled and said, "No. I'm El-Aurian. We're a race of listeners. Besides that, my similarity to Humans has helped me in the past, I will live much, much longer than a Human. You're Human, aren't you?"

Jack laughed and raised his eyebrows at her, taking another drink. "Uh, yeah. I'm Human."

"But one of your friends isn't," she went on.

"Nope. He's a Jaffa," Jack answered. She looked interested, so Jack explained, "They're a race kind of created to serve the biggest jerks of the galaxy where we come from. They like to tell everyone they're gods."

"But they aren't?" Guinan asked.

"God, I hope not," Jack laughed, and Guinan chuckled. "We spend most of our time fighting them, figuring out ways to fight them… and when we're not doing that, we're running from them. Because they're shooting at us. Not a bad job, though, on the whole. Too bad I came into work last week, though. Might have saved us all a lot of trouble."

And now… "At least Sam will be happy, I guess. I mean, living on a starship for an undetermined amount of time? Practically heaven to her. And it's not like Daniel never shunned an opportunity to study a new culture or something. And Teal'c… well, Teal'c's Teal'c. He's the kind of guy that could fit in anywhere, you know?"

Guinan smiled knowingly. "I can tell your friends mean a lot to you." Jack frowned at her. Where did she get that? He took another gulp of the whiskey and waited for her to explain herself, but she didn't. "What are you doing to do?"

"Fish," Jack answered, and then raised his glass. "Drink."

"Nothing more?" she asked, shaking her head.

"Don't think so," Jack answered. After all, what was there for him to do? He was useful in his own universe and time, but only because of the time he spent in the Air Force. Sam had her brains, Daniel was a linguist, and Teal'c had been a warrior for about a hundred years or something. Jack was… old. That was what he was good for.

Guinan smiled and poured more whiskey in his glass. "You'll find something," Guinan said. "You know… in this universe, a long time ago, there were three friends. The oldest had a very set view of life, was guided by a faith in humanity that was informed by science. The next friend was the logical one who believed in nothing that he couldn't see. And the third was fun-loving, a leader, who believed in humanity the same way he believed in science." Where in the world is this going? Jack wondered. He was glad he had the whiskey to pass the time. "The first two didn't get along very well and almost never agreed, but the third friend held them together through the toughest time they ever went through. They came through stronger, closer. Different, sure. But they remained friends until the end of their lives."

Jack nodded, pretending that he understood, but he really didn't. "Nice," he said, and put his empty glass on the bar. He looked at the bottle, and then at Guinan. "Hey, what else have you got back there?"

Guinan smiled, put the bottle back beneath the bar, and pulled up another one.


	5. Q-Who?

_Q had to come in here somewhere. He's so fun. So evil. And yet not at all. Time has gone by from last chapter, and now we're three-quarters of the way through season 2 in TNG._

* * *

**Chapter 5: Q-Who?**

Sam looked like she hadn't slept in weeks. Daniel didn't envy her the work she'd been putting herself through, only to become increasingly more frustrated when the answers hid themselves from her day after day after day. Daniel had timed his visit as perfectly as he could, having left piles of references regarding Iconians, Latin, and notepads filled with all the information he could remember about Ancients as he tried to piece together what little information Starfleet had about the gateways.

Daniel knew he needed a break, but only half as much as Sam needed one. At least Daniel had been making progress. He couldn't say the same for Sam.

Daniel wandered through the labyrinthine hallways of the _Enterprise_ in the direction of Engineering, where Sam spent most of her time these days. Daniel would go with her some days, in the beginning, but the constant throbbing of the blue warp core gave him headaches, so he soon retreated to his room again.

"Sam?" he called tentatively when he entered, when a young ensign walked up, smiled at him, and then asked the replicator for a hot chocolate. Daniel wasn't sure he heard right, but he thought she'd just said "please" when she did, and "thank you" when she took the mug out.

"Do you always say 'please' and 'thank you' to the replicators?" he asked with a smile as she took a sip.

"Well, it's called 'intelligent circuitry.' A little courtesy never hurt anything. Can I help you?" she asked cheerfully, adding, "I'm Ensign Sonya Gomez."

"Hi, Sonya, I'm Daniel—"

"Oh, Daniel Jackson, right?" she interrupted. "The expert on Iconians that came from another universe."

Daniel laughed a little. "Yeah. Well, sort of. Hey, have you seen a blonde-haired woman around here? Her name is Samantha Carter…?"

"No," she answered, as bubbly as ever. "I haven't. But I'm new."

"I see," Daniel agreed with a nod. "Well, if you see her… or Lieutenant La Forge, even—"

"Geordi La Forge?" she asked excitedly. "I am so excited to be on this ship! I can't wait to meet all of these people."

"You're… _brand_ new, out of the Academy, aren't you?" Daniel asked with a slight smile. He had to admit that he had never met anyone so thrilled about anything. Well… he had been that excited… once. Something about six points in space… and one for a destination…

"Yes! I requested to be on the _Enterprise_, but I didn't think I'd get to," she explained. "Everyone in class wants the _Enterprise._ I mean, the flagship of the Federation is a very, very important posting! I just hope I don't mess it up… Lieutenant!" she suddenly shouted, waving one hand.

Geordi saw her and came their direction through the steady stream of engineers going about their business, looking partially annoyed. "Hello, Ensign Gomez," he said to Sonya, which almost made her drop her hot chocolate. "Hi, Daniel."

Sonya Gomaz quivered with delight, and said, before Daniel could even respond to his hello, "Let me just say, Lieutenant La Forge, that I am so pleased to be working on this ship. It is so important and I will do my absolute best to—" It was like watching a train wreck, Daniel thought.

"Thank you, Ensign," Geordi said with a smile. "I know you will do a great job, but just keep in mind that you got this assignment because you have the skills and ability to do it." Sonya smiled the biggest smile she had. "But also keep in mind that food and drink are not permitted in Engineering."

"Oh!" Sonya exclaimed. "Oh, no, you're right. I'm just so nervous and I don't—" She had turned to put her hot chocolate away, colliding with the nearest body while she wasn't paying attention to where she was going. Unfortunately for the poor girl, it was Captain Picard. Time seemed to stand still in Engineering for a moment as everyone froze and awaited the captain's reaction for good or ill. Daniel hid his face from the catastrophe, letting his forehead fall into the palm of one hand, but couldn't help a small smile. Train wreck. Poor thing was a train wreck.

"Actually, it's my fault, sir," Geordi offered, and Daniel grinned at him. Geordi glared at him as though to say, _shut up_.

"Yes, I'm sure," Captain Picard agreed in an almost-sarcastic tone. Daniel had never heard that from Captain Picard before…

"Oh, Captain! Oh, Captain, I'm sorry. Oh, it's all over you."

"Yes, Ensign, it's all over me," Captain Picard agreed, now somehow holding her cup of hot chocolate.

Sonya still fretted while she tried to somehow wipe up the liquid on the front of his shirt with her hands, apologizing over and over while Geordi, apparently feeling sorry for her, offered to take full responsibility. Eventually, the captain had apparently had enough. "Ensign, I believe it would be simpler if you let me change my uniform," he said with a kindly smile, while putting a bit of distance between her and his shirt.

"I'm very excited about this assignment, Captain," she said, "and I promise I'll try very hard to serve you and this ship to the best of my ability."

"I'm sure you will," Captain Picard agreed with a nod. "Carry on."

Daniel tried his hardest to not laugh. "Can I help you, Captain?" he asked.

"Thank you, Doctor Jackson," Captain Picard said, looking down at his soaked shirt. "I was actually looking for you about some information I found regarding Iconia… but it appears I should first need to change my shirt." Sonya looked from one of them to the other with a hint of reverent awe mixed with jealousy that, though Daniel was not even in Starfleet and not from this universe, the captain would come looking for him personally.

"Oh," Daniel said, deciding that he could easily find Sam later, since she obviously wasn't here at the moment. He took the hot chocolate from the captain's hand and said, "Well, I'll come with you, then," and deposited the mostly-empty mug into the nearest replicator.

"Daniel, wait," Geordi said. "Was there something you needed here?"

"Um, I was just looking for Sam, but I'll find her later," he answered, and walked with the captain to the turbolift.

The captain appeared very occupied with his shirt once the doors closed, and he said, "Deck 9, Officers' quarters. Doctor Jackson, I don't believe the information I had to share with you was as important as this." He looked up from his shirt at Daniel. "If you wish, you may find Major Carter."

"I was just going to ask her if she wanted to get some lunch," Daniel admitted. "She's been running herself ragged. We all have. Well, except for Jack," he muttered.

"Mr. Worf has been very impressed with Mr. Teal'c's performance as a temporary part of his security team. He will be an asset should an emergency come up," Captain Picard said. "And Mr. Data never misses and opportunity to tell me how quickly Major Carter has learned our systems and suggested alternatives for engine efficiency."

"That's Sam," Daniel agreed with a smile, looking up at the ceiling while Captain Picard looked back down at his shirt.

At that moment, the turbolift doors open and the captain stepped out, still occupied with his shirt, and Daniel followed, not totally paying attention. But the next moment he looked out, he realized that this was certainly not "Deck 9, Officers' quarters" as the captain had requested. They appeared to be in a shuttlecraft somehow.

Captain Picard and Daniel both looked back over their shoulders to see if the turbolift doors were still somehow there, but they weren't. That was when Captain Picard noticed that a crewman was sitting at the controls of the shuttlecraft. "Crewman, what's going on?" he asked him.

The crewman turned around in his chair and grinned. "There, there, my dear captain. And the traveler, Daniel Jackson. How splendid."

Daniel had never heard a crewman address the captain that way had had never met this crewman, so didn't know why he would be so pleased to see him. But a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach told Daniel that this was the worst, sick kind of pleasure that the crewman had.

The captain seemed to forget about his shirt. "Q," he said, moving to the back of the chair that the crewman was sitting in.

"Q?" Daniel repeated, looking from the captain to the crewman.

"My, my, we've been careless," Q noticed, looking at the stain on the captain's shirt. He wasted no time in waving his hand over the stain, announcing, "There! A little cleaning service I'm more than happy to provide." He then leaned back in his chair to see Daniel and said, "Daniel! You are not as messy an eater, I see. But your costume is horrendous." He snapped his fingers and Daniel found himself in another set of clothes altogether, the ratted and dusty Abydonian clothes he'd worn on their very first trip through the Stargate. Daniel lifted the scarf off his chest and stared at it hard.

"That's more comfortable, isn't it?" Q asked with a grin.

"Q!" the captain interrupted. "We agreed that you would never trouble my ship again."

"And I always keep my agreements." Q motioned out the window before him. "We are nowhere near your vessel."

A quick look out the window told Daniel that Q was telling the truth—a thing he didn't do very often, Daniel had to guess. They were nowhere near the Enterprise. They, in fact, appeared to be nowhere near _anything_. He looked from Captain Picard to Q. "Where are we?"

* * *

Jack felt like he had practically been on vacation the last few weeks. The _Enterprise _had gone through many interesting places that Jack watched from the windows of Ten-Forward or from his "quarters" when the view of a planet was good from there. He'd found steady entertainment at Ten-Forward, as well, either with the crew's usual interactions there, concerts, or Guinan. But the more time he spent there, the more he felt that he didn't belong there. He had refused to wear their clothes and the only person he ever thought about talking to was Guinan…

But she did more listening than talking.

"Never too early for a drink, Guinan," he said as he sat at the bar.

Guinan smiled at him and offered a "lunch drink" that they served on some far-flung planet that Jack didn't care about. He had sampled the alcoholic fare of many different planets now, and had to agree with Guinan that Aldebaran whiskey was definitely the best, most robust flavor with the tingle of alcohol that managed to stay with him for house afterward.

Jack waited for his drink and noticed that the engineering-fellow walked in with a pretty girl in the same color uniform that he was wearing. Jack wondered what they were doing momentarily before going back to watching Guinan prepare the "lunch drink." He had considered himself well-rounded when it came to alcohol in this universe before now, but Guinan was using ingredients from beneath the bar that Jack had never seen before. She was obviously holding some things in reserve.

The sound of the engineering girl's voice jabbered through the entire room. She didn't seem to know how to shut up, Jack thought, and seized the glass when Guinan gave it to him, but didn't take a drink. Guinan suddenly looked very serious, frowning out the window even though nothing was there that Jack could see. "Guinan?" he asked, looking from Guinan to the outside. "What is it?"

Guinan reached for the communications panel without answering him and said, "Bridge? This is Ten Forward."

Jack heard Commander Riker's voice come back through the comm-panel. "Guinan!" he asked. "I don't believe you've ever called the bridge before."

"I never felt the need," Guinan answered, and a shiver shot down Jack's spine. "Is everything alright? Is anything… unusual happening?"

Riker was quiet for a moment, maybe checking to make sure that nothing interesting was happening. Jack relaxed a bit when he said, "No, nothing out of the ordinary. Why?"

Guinan sighed and looked straight out the bank of windows again. Still serious. Still concerned. Jack tensed again and stared at the window, too. "I'm…" she pondered. "I'm not certain. Just a feeling. Something that happened once before. Probably nothing," she finally finished. "Please forget I called. Ten Forward out." The comm-panel beeped off.

"Something that happened once before?" Jack demanded, turning toward Guinan. "What the hell does that mean?"

Guinan looked at him briefly before looking back out the window. "You should go find your friends."

Jack sprang up from his chair and raced out of Ten Forward, having not even tasted his lunch drink once.

* * *

Captain Picard sat in the seat next to Q and began tapping buttons. Q chuckled, but Daniel was less amused. "How do you know about this?" he demanded, showing Q his dusty scarf. The dust put that taste of the Abydos sandstorms in his mouth. He lifted the scarf to his face and wished that he could be back on Abydos when things were perfect. _My god, it smells like Sha're._

"Daniel, Daniel, Daniel!" Q laughed. "He's very cute, Picard, where did you pick him up again? Oh, the locator beacon won't help. They'll never look for you this far away."

After trying to contact the _Enterprise_ with no response, Captain Picard turned to Q. "Stop this foolishness, Q! Return us to the _Enterprise_."

Daniel looked up from the scarf wrapped around his neck, but still held it in his hand. Q looked at him, and then at Captain Picard. "At least Daniel appreciates me. Petulance does not become you, Picard. We have business."

"Keeping me prisoner will not force me to discuss anything with you!" Picard said.

"But it will," Q objected. "In time. So how long do you want to stay out here? Years? Decades? I am ageless, Picard. You and Daniel are not." Captain Picard ignored Q and tried to power up the shuttle a few times, but it didn't work. Daniel sank down onto one of the bench seats in the back of the shuttle, staring at his costume, mind working. Working hard.

"Q," he said, looking up.

Q grinned at him and slid over in the shuttle to sit next to him. "Oh, Daniel! Daniel!" he said, grasping his arm with both hands like a small child. "You recognize my powers for what they are! Something Picard can never do. You know what gods can be like."

"I won't bother asking you how you know about this," Daniel said, choosing with an effort to ignore his last comment. "But you obviously have great… abilities."

"Powers, abilities, it's all the same no matter how you paint it, isn't it?" Q asked. "You're going to ask me for something now, aren't you?" He scooted a little closer to Daniel, though Daniel hadn't thought that exactly possible. "One wish, Daniel, one wish." He held a finger up and gazed intently at Daniel with a grin unsettling enough to make Daniel rethink his strategy.

"You're not a genie in a bottle, Q!" the captain snapped from the front seat. "Doctor Jackson, do not listen to anything he says. He enjoys _toying_ with Humans. Everything is a game to him."

Sounded familiar, Daniel thought. Toying with Humans.

"No, Picard, you're not speaking in a language that he understands," Q pouted on Daniel's behalf. "I've never killed anyone, Daniel. No, not like back home." He closed his eyes. "Remember?"

Suddenly Daniel was not on the shuttlecraft anymore, but in a tent in the desert. On Abydos. _Sha're_. Daniel closed his eyes but still saw himself, Amaunet, the orange glow of the _kara kesh_ that had almost killed him. The white bolt of the Teal'c's staff weapon that had. But he was past that. It had been at least six months, hadn't it? Eight? Sometimes it seemed like yesterday…

"That was mean of me," Q admitted. Daniel found himself back in the shuttle again, his hands raked through his hair. Captain Picard was trying to contact the _Enterprise_ again, and Q commented, "You are an impossibly stubborn Human. If I return you to your ship, will you agree to give me a full hearing? And you and I… have much talking to do, Daniel."

Daniel shook his head.

Q ignored that and turned to the captain. "Well, Picard?"

Daniel watched Captain Picard for any hint of a response. When he nodded ever so slightly—

Q snapped, and the three of them were sitting in Ten Forward with drinks on the table before them, and Guinan, the bartender, standing next to them. "You're right, Picard, this is a much better venue for talking." Then he snapped to look at Guinan. "You!"

"None other," Guinan said, like an accusation, and took Daniel by the arm, dragging him from the table and putting him behind her.

"Picard!" Q said urgently, turning to the captain. "If you had any sense, you would get her off your ship immediately." Then he raised one of his hands as though to snap. "And I would be more than pleased to expedite her departure." Then he snapped anyway and Daniel was standing next to him. Daniel staggered back into the wall from the sudden change in location, having had just about enough.

As Captain Picard turned to Guinan, obviously about to say something, Daniel said, "Stop!"

In surprise, Q, Captain Picard, and Guinan all turned to look at Daniel. "You shouted at me," Q said, seeming hurt. "Picard never shouted at me like that. And when I could have done so much for you." He snapped again and Sha're was standing next to Q.

"Daniél?" she asked, confused, edging away from him.

Daniel laughed, his mind a mix of nerves and rage. "Stop," he ordered, trying to keep his voice level. _Please, stop_.

"What do you want, Q?" Picard demanded.

Q sighed and smiled at each of them in turn before snapping Sha're away again. Daniel slid down the wall a bit at the sight. Just like that, a snap, and she was gone. Happened a lot. "Ah, you're right," Q said. "She is distracting us from my purpose here."

"And that is?" Commander Riker had walked in, flanked by Worf, with a phaser, and Teal'c, with his staff weapon.

"Daniel Jackson," he said in a mildly concerned tone.

"The redoubtable Commander Riker!" Q announced, making a show of his pleasure. "And micro-brain! I see you have a friend. Hello, Teal'c. You're smarter than he is, you know." Worf bared his teeth and growled. Q turned to Captain Picard. "My purpose? To join you!"

"To join us?" Riker repeated.

"As what?" Captain Picard asked.

Q motioned to the red and black uniform he was wearing. "As a member of the crew! This ship is already a home for the unwanted, the unworthy, and the homeless," he said, looking at Guinan, Worf, and Daniel in turn. "Why not me, too?"

"So you were kicked out of the Q Continuum?" Riker guessed.

"Some Q are almost respectable; not like this one," Guinan explained.

"Join us to do what?" Captain Picard questioned. "Would you start as an ordinary crewman? What task is too menial for one such as you?"

Q just smiled at the captain and then at Riker. "Let me present my argument. After our last encounter, I was asked to leave the Continuum. Since then I've been wandering, bored, without a purpose. Then I remembered to good times we had together and I heard that you had new friends on board. And the more I think about it, the more I realize I want to join you, since none of you will join me," he added, looking squarely at Riker and then at Daniel. "This is where I want to be. If necessary, I will even renounce all my powers and become as weak and incompetent as all of you," he finished with a smile, and waited for the verdict.

He didn't have to wait long. "No," Captain Picard said.

"Oh, Captain! I add a little excitement, a little spice to your lives and this is how you repay me. And you," he added, looking at Daniel. He hadn't realized it, but he'd been looking where Sha're had been standing only a moment ago. He snapped to look at Q. "You're just as ungrateful," he accused.

"We don't trust you," Captain Picard explained, goading a laugh from Q.

"Oh, that may be true, but you _do_ need me. You're not prepared for what awaits you."

"I don't know that we are prepared," Captain Picard said with great dignity and finality. "But we are ready to confront that possibility."

Q laughed and looked at Guinan as though sharing a secret with a friend. "Oh, the arrogance. They don't have a clue what's out there." Then he looked at Daniel. "Tell, them, Danny-boy. Tell them what awaits them. You've met things better and ten times worse, haven't you?"

Daniel shook his head and shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about." He heard the faint squeak of a spider-like mechanical creature crawling across the ceiling and looked up, but saw nothing. The word raced through his mind, _Replicator_, before he could stop it. Their newest foe in their universe, impossible to stop by all calculations. When he looked back, Q was smiling. "Better? Or ten times worse, do you think?"

Q turned to the captain. "You judge yourselves by the pitiful adversaries you have so far encountered. The Kingons. The Romulans. They're nothing compared to what's waiting."

"We are not arrogant," Captain Picard insisted. "We are resolute and willing. But more than that, we are determined. Your help is not required."

"Let's see about that, then." Q snapped, Guinan objected. A brilliant flash of light, and Q was gone. And so were they.


	6. No Illusions

**Chapter 6: No Illusions**

"Jack," Daniel whispered, edging up to Jack while the four of them stood on the bridge.

Even though Captain Picard was obviously notpleased with what had happened, he chose to ignore Guinan's advise and explore a bit since they were here… since Q seemed to have snapped them two years' travel away from the nearest starbase. That didn't do anything for Daniel's nerves. And then, the horrific possibility that this Q-person could or would bring Replicators into this universe made his skin crawl. Of course, Q did that pretty well without any help from mechanical spiders.

Either Jack was ignoring him or hadn't heard him. "Jack," he whispered again.

"What?" Jack whispered back.

When it came to it, Daniel had no idea what he was going to say. There seemed so much to say in so little time… of course, there was no easy way to explain what was going on, in general. Go to another universe, meet a being with truly god-like abilities, and then bring Replicators into it? Daniel hoped not. Probably not, he decided. But he still had to tell Jack.

"I think Q was trying to show me something… about what they're going to meet out here," Daniel started carefully.

"Yeah?" Jack asked, a little interested, but then he got distracted again as so often happened. "I need my P-90 back…"

Not that Daniel wouldn't have liked his Beretta back, especially after... "I saw a Replicator. In Ten Forward."

"You saw a what?" Jack demanded, his tone very well overheard by everyone on the bridge.

Everyone turned to look at them, including the captain. "Did you have something to say, Colonel O'Neill?" he asked.

"Captain, I think we've got a problem. Maybe. Has Q ever brought anything into this universe from another universe? Because, Daniel thinks he saw a Replicator." At confused looks from the entire company, except for the SG team, Jack recanted, "Not that kind of replicator. The Replicators we have in our universe are anything but helpful. They're mechanical sort of spiders that kind of… eat and reproduce technology…" His voice fell away to nothingness, as it did when he really had no idea what he was talking about.

"Robots," Sam explained. "Like Colonel O'Neill said, they absorb technology and use it to make more of themselves. The level of technology they consume directly affects the next generation of robots that they produce. They are basically one entity with many… bodies."

Captain Picard narrowed his eyes at Sam. "A collective intelligence?" he said under his breath.

"Yes," Sam agreed.

"Fascinating," Data said, turning around in his chair. "Do they have the capacity to learn outside of the technology they incorporate?"

"That we don't know," Sam answered. "We haven't known about them for very long."

Data nodded and seemed to think about that for a few moments until his computer beeped at him. "We are being probed."

"What's the source?" Riker demanded, standing.

"A ship," Worf said. "It's on an intercept course."

Daniel felt a shiver down his spine, recalling Q's words. _Better? Or ten times worse, do you think?_ He guessed they were about to find out.

Captain Picard turned to the large view screen at the fore of the bridge and ordered, "On screen." The screen blinked to a view of the stars, and a tiny dot of a ship. "Magnify."

It was unlike anything they'd ever seen, Daniel thought, and obviously the same was true for the _Enterprise_ crew, judging by the expressions. It was a cube, pure and simple, laced with pipes and wires that turned and coiled over the outside and, apparently, went through the interior as well. Green lights blinked at apparently random spots all over it, lit up wires, and died away to leave only the black sheen of the metal it was made of.

"Full scan. Yellow alert," Commander Riker instructed.

"Going to yellow alert," Worf said, as yellow lights illuminated the walls on and off.

"Keep the shields down," Riker added. "We don't want to appear provocative."

"Data…" Captain Picard said, his eyes still pasted on that strange shape in the view screen. "What can you tell us?"

"The ship is strangely generalized in design. I can find no central control area or bridge, and there appears to be no living quarters."

Sam looked at Jack, who looked at Daniel. Teal'c didn't appear phased by this discovery at all, but Daniel couldn't squelch the feeling of panic rising. Data went on to say he couldn't find any life on the ship, and Worf informed everyone there were no weapons or shields of any design they knew of…

"Captain, I think this is what Q was telling me about with the Replicator," Daniel spoke up. "If these things are anything like our Replicators… we've got to defend ourselves. Or something. Jack?" he said, when no one appeared to be paying him any mind.

"He's right, Captain. Q might have known what he was talking about. These guys are no joke if they're anything like the Replicators in our universe," Jack agreed.

"But, as you are so fond of reminding us, Colonel O'Neill, this is not your universe." Captain Picard looked over his shoulder at him. "Raise the shields, Mr. Worf," he said, apparently after deciding that it was better to be safe than sorry.

The screen blinked away, showing something different entirely. "Oh my god," Daniel whispered when he saw it. It wasn't a Replicator; it wasn't a living thing. It was neither—but maybe both.

"Security to main engineering!" Geordi suddenly spoke over the comm. "We have an intruder."

"He came in right through the shields…" Worf pondered, something wild in his eyes. He nodded at Teal'c and motioned to two other officers on the bridge as he went to main engineering to deal with the intruder. Captain Picard obviously wasn't going to turn down the opportunity to see a new lifeform, and went along. When Daniel went with the Captain, he found Jack and Sam tailing him.

As soon as they walked into Engineering, they saw it standing in front of the warp core, all of the engineers gathered around it like it was some sort of circus sideshow. And it almost was, Daniel thought. Its skin was a mute pallor of gray, if you could find a bit of skin that wasn't covered by black tight metal plates, tubes, or wires. One arm terminated in a strange hook-apparatus that opened at closed at the creature's will. Daniel caught a glimpse of its face: gray, veins popping from its forehead and prominent cheekbones. A black piece of machinery covered—or replaced?—one of his eyes.

Q appeared next to him a moment later. "Interesting, isn't it?" he asked. "Not a he, not a she, like nothing any of you have ever seen. An enhanced Humanoid. A Borg." It was a sick expression of humanity, even if it wasn't technically human, Daniel thought. This thing was anything but.

The captain took a step closer to the "enhanced humanoid" and probably would have gone closer again, but Daniel, on impulse, held him back. It hadn't occurred to him that might be considered rude, but his stomach was still turning flip-flops and Daniel was willing to risk the captain's genial attitude.

"What do you want? We mean you no harm," the captain said to it. "Do you understand me?"

"Captain, I don't think it cares," Daniel said.

The captain looked at him as though he didn't believe a word of that. _Everything cares_, he seemed to say. _Everything cares about something; he has to have some awareness of my presence._ Did he really not get it? True evil—did it not exist in his world until now?

Q smiled at Daniel and made a mock applause. "Very good, Danny. You're nothing to him, Picard. Your species is nothing to him. He's just a scout, here to analyze as much as he can about you. They always start that way." He inspected his fingernails then. "Oh. He may try to take control of your ship… I wouldn't let him." He snapped, and vanished.

As soon as he did, the Borg made to move toward a computer console. "Stop!" Captain Picard ordered. "I cannot allow you to interfere with the operation of this ship—Mr. Worf!" he said when the Borg didn't acknowledge him.

Worf raised his weapon and fired a ribbon of orange light at it, to no effect. When the Borg attached a thing on his arm to the console in front of him, power drained away, dimming the lights and the blue glow of the warp core. Worf raised the setting and fired again, this time knocking the Borg back. But before they could do anything else, another Borg appeared out of nowhere to take its place. When Worf fired at it, the Borg had some sort of force field guarding it.

"Oh, for Pete's sake," Jack muttered, grabbing Daniel's arm and backing him away from the intruder.

After draining the computer's power reserves, the live Borg—if it was even alive, Daniel didn't know—touched the dead one and they both disappeared. Captain Picard looked at the other bridge officers and then tapped the communicator affixed to his shirt. "Guinan, to my ready room." Then he turned to Daniel, Jack, Sam, and Teal'c. "And the rest of you, with me."

Daniel hadn't known the captain for very long, but it didn't take a genius to tell that he was angry—very, very angry.

They followed him all the way to the ready room and waited for Guinan to arrive. "Doctor Jackson, I would appreciate it if you would not interfere in the first-contact procedures of this ship, and not interfere with me."

"Captain," Daniel sighed.

"There is no time for discussion. We are now faced with a hostile force unlike anything we've seen. We need information."

"He would've been more than happy to give you all the information you wanted, Captain," Jack objected. "You didn't seem to want it. Since I have you here, though, I'd like to ask for my gun back."

"Jack!" Daniel and Sam both snapped together.

"Please," Jack added with a wry smile at them.

Before the conversation could go any further, Guinan came through the door. "You called, Captain?"

"And you came," Jack observed. "Nice."

"Colonel O'Neill, I will have you removed," Captain Picard threatened, and then looked at Guinan. "Your people have had dealings with the Borg?" he asked, and Guinan nodded. "Tell me what happened."

"I wasn't involved directly," Guinan prefaced. "My people encountered them about a century ago. I was told they came through our system like a swarm of Jaradian Aser beetles, and, by the time they left, there wasn't much left of our society. Our cities were destroyed and people scattered across the galaxy."

"If they are that aggressive," Captain Picard wondered, "then why did neither attack?"

"They never attack as individuals," Guinan explained. "When they decide to attack… they will. In force."

"How do we reason with them?" the captain asked. "Let them know we aren't a threat?"

"You don't," Guinan answered.

"Captain," Worf said over his communicator. "We are being hailed."

Captain Picard thanked Guinan and then turned to Jack. "Colonel O'Neill, I'd ask that you remember that you and your team are guests on my ship."

"Prisoners, more like." Jack reminded, "We don't want to be here right now any more than you want us to be here."

"I have been very generous," Captain Picard said. "I have given you a home on my ship and invited you to contribute, and I will continue to do so. However, if you cause any more disturbances, I will not hesitate to have you confined to quarters."

"I'm all for helping you guys," Jack said. "I'm just not used to… following stupid orders."

Captain Picard ignored that completely and went out to the bridge. There was a line of Borg on the screen, and one that seemed to be front and center, which Captain Picard addressed, "I'm Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Fed—"

"We are the Borg. We have analyzed your defensive capabilities and determined that you are unable to withstand us."

It was as the sound of a thousand voices, Daniel thought, speaking in unison. And yet, no single voice was unique. They were all the same. The captain turned to Counselor Troi for her assessment.

"You are not dealing with an individual mind," she said.

Sam nodded like she knew exactly that was coming. Daniel, if he gave into his juvenile impulses, would have stamped around in circles saying "I told you so!" Fortunately, things like that rarely happened and only under the influence of alien vibrations.

"There is no single leader. It is the collective minds of all of them."

"Oh, Picard…" Q's disembodied voice spoke, and a moment later he appeared between Daniel and Jack, leaning on their shoulders. "Are you still sure you don't want me as a member of your crew? This would be the time to ask…"

"Captain!" Worf interrupted. "They've locked on to us with some kind of a tractor beam."

"The beam is draining our shields," Data informed them. "They will be down in eighteen seconds."

"Captain!" Worf shouted again. "Some type of beam is slicing through the saucer section."

"Use whatever means necessary to stop them, Mr. Worf," Captain Picard ordered, while Q looked on in morbid interest.

Daniel brushed Q off his shoulder, in a daze, as he watched the view-screen and saw on Worf's computer panel that an entire chunk of the ship was now missing. "Why are you doing this?" he asked, looking at Q.

"I'm not," Q answered. "The Borg is the ultimate user unlike any threat Picard's precious Federation has ever faced. They have no interest in political conquest or wealth or power. They simply want the ship. They have identified it as something they can consume…" He paused to look at Sam. "And use."

"Is there anything we can do to help them?" Sam demanded.

"Oh, I don't know," Q said with shrug.

"The tractor beam has released," Data reported after a moment of chaos.

"Casualties?" Riker asked Worf.

"Eighteen were in sections 27, 28, and 29 when it was cut off with the beam and are now missing," Worf answered.

Riker shook his head. "They couldn't have survived."

Captain Picard looked up at Q and demanded, "Please tell us this is one of your illusions, Q—eighteen people have died!"

"Oh, no," Q said. "This is as real as your so-called life gets. My offer still stands, Picard."

"But _we_ can help them, can't we?" Sam asked. Q remained silent, smiling slightly.

"How do you mean?" Captain Picard asked.

"We have experience with these same sort of creatures. The Replicators we told you about, they're every inch what the Borg are, except that the Borg are based in biology," Sam answered. "Our encounters with the Replicators could help you. If you don't want his help—fine. Use ours. We're stuck in this with you."

Daniel shuddered internally. He didn't want to help them. Like Sam said, they were stuck here because of the captain. He was responsible for that, and responsible for those eighteen people out there in space somewhere. He hung his head in shame. Eighteen deaths didn't mean what it used to, did it? But at the expense of his own life? Jack's? Teal'c's? Sam's?

"I know what you're thinking, Danny," Q whispered in his ear, so only he could hear him. "Wouldn't it be nice to just snap and make it all disappear?"

"Give us our weapons, Captain. We'll go over to that ship and see what's what," Jack offered. "Find out all we can, cut our losses, and get the hell out of here."

Picard stared at Jack and nodded ever-so-slightly. "Agreed. Worf, get them their weapons, assemble a minimal away-team. Let's see what's over there."


	7. Immature

_Sorry for the lack of Borg-babies in drawers... Actually, I'm not. Not one bit._

* * *

**Chapter 7: Immature**

First of all: beaming. That was weird. Weirder than the Asgard beaming technology. Like being picked apart with tweezers and then put back together in a different place entirely. Jack wouldn't have liked to do that again, but he would have liked to stay here even less.

Second: Jack had never been so happy to see his gun again. Okay, maybe that was a lie. But he couldn't think time he'd been more happy than now, so that still stood. Unfortunately he had to be standing in this place with it. The hallways were dark and felt dank, even though it was impossible that anything was actually dripping down the walls. It still felt that way. He was glad that Daniel had elected to stay on the _Enterprise_, or he might have had to force him to stay.

Jack crept along the edge of the hallway, next to Riker. He still wrestled with the fact that he was simply no longer in charge, not even of his own team. That was Commander Riker's job, now, and Jack just had to put up with it, or shut up. The latter was never an option for Jack, so he decided that he would tolerate it.

The inside of the ship, Jack noticed after looking at it seriously, was as ugly as the outside. Ugly black and green, wires, pipes, floor plates that were clearly only meant for walking on—nothing worth looking at. Riker paused a moment and then motioned to Worf and Data.

Apparently, war-time hand-motions had changed a little bit in the past few hundred years. Jack motioned to his own team, and they all nodded as Jack went ahead of Riker into the next room. Teal'c flanked him as Sam covered them.

"Colonel O'Neill!" Riker objected.

"Jack's fine," Jack answered, and stood his full height to get a good look around. "Would you look at that."

Sam entered the room and let her guard down a little as she examined their surroundings. It was… weird, Jack decided. A bunch of Borg lined the walls in little individual rounds in the walls, flashing green lights in circles behind their heads. They stared, unseeing, at the space before them and made no indication that they would move anytime soon.

Riker came into the room behind them, still tense. "I wonder why they don't react to us," he said. Jack shrugged and loosed up on his gun, even though he never took one hand off of it. "And why the _Enterprise _didn't read any life signs with so many of them."

"There are a lot of them, aren't they?" Jack pondered, looking down the hallway and then craning his neck upward. He could see up through the floor above them, showing that, at least directly above them, more Borg stood in more slots.

"They're in some kind of stasis," Sam guessed, waving her hand in front of one's face.

"Major Carter," Riker asked, his tone a slight pleading about it.

Jack laughed. "Lighten up, Commander. These things aren't going anywhere." He poked the Borg in the belly with the muzzle of his gun.

"Colonel O'Neill!" Riker said, his tone low and threatening. "You will follow orders as long as you are on my away team."

Jack wandered over to stand behind Riker. "Yes, sir," he agreed.

"Good," Commander Riker said with a nod, and took another step down the hallway in no particular direction. Before the rest of them could move to follow him, a Borg separated himself from his slot and walked down the hallway, ignoring them completely. Riker looked at his team. "Either they don't see us, or they don't see us as a threat." Another Borg walked past them and put himself into an empty space some distance down the hall away from them.

"Probably the latter," Jack offered. Worf seemed offended at that.

Data walked over to the now-empty slot and inspected it, being careful not to touch it. "Commander, I theorize that the Borg are somehow interconnected through these slots and are somehow acting collectively."

"I think you're right. That must be where the connection is made," Sam offered, pointing at a hole in the aperture. "Each slot must be designed for a specific Borg, too, or that one might have come to stand in here instead." Riker raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged. "It would be more efficient."

"I agree with the major," Data said.

"Well, glad we all agree," Jack said with a nod.

Riker glared at Jack for a moment and then said, "Let's go look for a way to access their main computer."

"If they have one," Sam pointed out. "We already established that nothing is centralized. And why should it be? Each of them has access to and… essentially, these _are_ the ship," Sam said, gesturing toward a Borg. "This ship literally _thinks_ what it wants and then does it."

Riker paused a moment and then looked at Data. "Suggestions?"

"Exploring is always good," Jack said quietly with a nod, pointing toward a hallway that branched off from the one they were in.

Riker looked down the hallway Jack had indicated and then held his hand out toward it. "After you, then._ Jack._"

Jack gave him a mock-bow as he headed off toward the hallway. Sam was right behind him. Jack didn't really know what he was seeing even after Sam choked on a gasp, gurgling, "Oh my god, Jack…!" Jack spun around in the room, trying to figure it out and, when he did, he felt sick.

The honey-combed room was lined with tanks of green liquid, infants and children floating impassively inside with wires and other mechanical implants affixed to their skin.

"Borg… children?" Riker guessed.

"No," Data said. "These beings do not match the species of either of the Borg that we saw on the _Enterprise_. I do believe… the Borg appear to take members of other sentient species and add them to their number." Data walked to one of the windows and peered inside, touching the glass that separated the children from the outside world. "This particular one does not match any species on record. Neither does this one. This one is the same as that one, but this…"

"Thank you, Data," Riker said quietly.

Data turned around and informed them stoically, "I believe these chambers are artificially accelerating their growth." Then he looked up at the ceiling for a moment before looking back at Riker. "I also believe the ship is regenerating."

"That explains why they haven't taken notice of us," Riker said. "They're too busy fixing their ship."

"Judging by the number of worker bees working on it," Jack said, "they'll be done soon."

Riker nodded and tapped the comm-link on his shirt. "_Enterprise_, six to beam up."

Jack tried to brace himself in time, but that didn't happen. He stumbled on his own feet, somewhat surprised they were still there, when he appeared on the transporter pad. Riker, Worf, Data, and Teal'c left immediately, apparently not concerned with the fact that their molecules had just been stripped apart and put back together. A little like wormhole-travel, actually, Jack thought, and looked at Sam to share the information.

But she didn't look like she was interested in hearing anything of the sort at the moment. She blinked at the tears gathering to her eyes, one of which had already spilled over sometime previous to transport.

"Sam…" he said quietly, walking toward her. When he noticed the transporter chief start to come over to make sure she was alright, Jack waved him away. He put his hand on her shoulder. "Sam?"

"Those kids, Jack," she whimpered.

"I know…" Jack sighed. He had tried not to think too hard about it. But, he guessed, that wasn't fair to anyone. Those alien children probably deserved a little thought. Even the smallest one.

"Couldn't we have…?" She then stopped, probably because she knew that there was nothing they could have done for them. She looked away and wept quietly.

Jack sighed and pulled her closer to him. "It's okay," he whispered into her hair when she wrapped her arms around him. But he knew it really wasn't okay, so he just let her cry.


	8. One Shot

**Chapter 8: One Shot**

Daniel watched Riker, Worf, and Teal'c file in and felt his heart fall into his stomach when Jack and Sam didn't appear. He looked at Teal'c not sure what to say, barely able to get the thought of _Don't panic_ to stick in his head. Teal'c noticed his concern and told him, "Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter are on their way."

Daniel nodded and shrugged, making a show that he wasn't worried and watched the captain and Commander Riker converse. A moment later, they had entered warp… It felt different than when a Goa'uld ships did the equivalent. "The Borg ship is in pursuit," Worf said.

"On screen," Commander Riker ordered, and all eyes turned to the view screen.

No matter how fast they pushed the ship to go, the Borg ship matched their speed and a moment later was gaining. They were pushing warp 9, the highest speed the _Entperprise_ was capable of, and the Borg ship still chased them easily. Jack and Sam walked onto the bridge together.

"Sir, they're firing," Worf said.

"Oh, great…" Jack muttered as they all braced for impact.

The Borg kept gaining, eating away at their shield with pulse after pulse of energy designed just for that purpose. Sam looked at the readouts on the engineering console in the bridge, looking concerned. Daniel didn't know what exactly she knew about it, but if Sam was concerned, then he figured he was safe being concerned, too. Someone had to be. Teal'c and Jack were acting like this was just another typical day on the _Enterprise_.

"Mr. La Forge," the captain said over the comm.

Geordi was either a mind-reader or he knew the urgency of the situation. "Auxiliary power is already rerouted to the engines, Captain, but I'll see what else I can do."

"They're relentless," Captain Picard muttered.

"Another hit and we will be defenseless," Worf said.

With the sound of a rush of wind, three Borg beamed on the bridge, got their bearings, and started lumbering toward the nearest being. "Mr. Worf!" Riker warned, standing and firing his phaser. The beam of orange hit the Borg in the center of the torso, but appeared to do no damage whatsoever. Worf tried to get off a straight shot, missing by a hair, but Daniel doubted it would have done any good even if he had hit.

Jack apparently wasn't going to stand for that. The _Enterprise_ crew jolted and ducked the instant his finger pressed on the trigger of his P-90; Daniel on impulse drew his Beretta while Sam strafed the walls, the Borg, and everything nearby with a line of bullet holes. The three Borg went down to the deck in a heap filled with holes, and another three whooshed in to replace them. Even these Borg were defenseless against their 21st-century weapons.

Teal'c fired his staff weapon twice, but the Borg managed to adapt to the blast of energy as they did to phaser fire. Not so much to bullets. Daniel gripped his gun with both hands and put three rounds into the chest of a Borg while Jack and Sam handled the others. Q appeared in the midst of more Borg but didn't appear to be injured when bullets went straight through him.

"You can't outrun them," he said to Captain Picard. "You can't even destroy them. Even with this mess," he motioned at the pile of dead Borg at his feet, "the essence of what they are remains. They will regenerate and keep coming. Eventually you will weaken, your power reserves gone, your ammunition spent. They _are_ relentless."

As if to punctuate his speech, Word announced, "Our shields are down."

Geordi's voice added to that, "We've lost warp engines."

Q grinned. "Where is your smugness, your arrogance? Do you still think you're ready to face what lies ahead? It makes me quite happy to say… I told you so." Even though more Borg appeared on the bridge, Daniel lowered his gun. _I told you so_.

"They're locking on with another tractor beam," Worf informed them.

"Arm photon torpedoes," Riker ordered.

"Sir," Data put in, "at this distance with no shields, there is a high degree of probability that a photon detonation would destroy the _Enterprise_."

"Prepare to fire," Riker replied.

Daniel steadied himself against the wall, his life, his whole miserable life, playing back before his eyes. Q went on, "You thought you could handle it, Picard. So handle it. I'll be going now."

"Q!" Daniel shouted before he left. Q halted any movement and smiled at him. "End this."

"Whatever makes you think that I can?" Q questioned.

"If we die right here… right now… you, um… you won't have anyone to gloat to," Daniel pointed out. "You wanted to prove that the _Enterprise_ was inadequate, well, you've done that. Look at Jack and Sam. A couple hundred years behind the _Enterprise—_I can do more damage with my 9 millimeter than they can. If you wanted them to say they can't do it on their own—"

"We can't," Captain Picard agreed. "We are inadequate. For the moment, I grant that." He turned at looked at the SG team. "We do need you."

"Sometimes the best way to move forward is to take a step back," Daniel finished.

For a moment, Daniel thought that Q was going to smile, but he didn't. He just stared at Captain Picard very seriously, raised one hand…

_Snap._ The Enterprise rocketed off to who knew were, spinning uncontrollably. When they finally stopped spinning, Captain Picard looked at Data. "Position?"

"Seven-zero-six mark two-two-five. We have returned to our original location," Data said.

"Back where we started," Captain Picard said, looking at Q.

"Any other man," Q said, "would have died before asking for help. Especially from Jack, isn't that right?" Daniel couldn't help his grin. "Danny," Q said when he did. "Jack, Teal'c… dearest Samantha. You four…" Q pondered. "You've changed history. For more than one universe. That's not an easy hand to play."

"You gotta play with what you're dealt," Jack answered.

"I know. And you do. Some of you." Q looked from one to the other before his eyes finally came to settle on Daniel. "Except for you. So, Daniel. Doctor Jackson. I'm going to give you a new hand. What do you want?" Daniel opened his mouth to speak, but to say what, he had no idea. Q interrupted, "Just one card. One shot to change everything. But just for you."

The three of them looked at him, curious. Daniel ran his hand through his hair, not sure what Q meant exactly. "I don't—"

"Sure, you do," Q said. "_Snap_ and it'll all go away. Or all come back. It's up to you."

"Daniel." Daniel looked up when Riker used his first name. He was looking pensive, serious, a look that didn't quite suit him as well as his usual _laissez-faire_ attitude. "I know whatever you're going to say next—you mean well. But be careful. That kind of power does things to you."

Daniel nodded as his mind raced. He could go home right now. He could have Sha're back. He could… Anything? He looked at Jack, Sam, and Teal'c. He could resurrect the past… but at the expense of his future? Only a moment's thought made him realize that wasn't who he was. He was an archaeologist. He studied the past, learned from it. He liked to think, for the moment, he lived for the future.

He just hoped he didn't regret this.

"I know," he said.

Q looked at him, almost all ready to snap. "Make it a good one."

"I really… really need a Stargate."

Q frowned. "A Stargate?"

"You heard him," Jack snapped. "Guy wants a 'Gate."

Q laughed uproariously, his face turned up to the ceiling. Then suddenly he stopped. "I'd pegged you for the selfish one, Jackson. I can see how wrong I was… What a shame. Very well. You shall have your gate, in time. This is going to take… _a lot_ of arranging. I hope you know what trouble I'm going to for you, Danny-boy."

Daniel shook his head: he didn't. He also doubted that it would be a big problem. What happened to the snap?

"You can't just put an Iconian gateway _anywhere_. Sha're would have been easier," Q pouted briefly, regaining his good humor only a moment later. "But, I asked. If it's an Iconian gateway you want, then it's an Iconian gateway you'll get. I always keep my agreements. This universe is filled with treasures, wondrous treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's not safe out there. Not for the timid."

"Yeah," Jack laughed under his breath. "We've noticed."

Q flashed one more smile and then snapped away.

Captain Picard sighed slightly, looked around the bridge for a moment, and then said to Data, "Set course for the nearest starbase."

"Course set for Starbase 83," Data said.

"Quite a repair we're gonna need," Jack sighed, and then looked at Daniel and smiled. "A Stargate?"

Daniel laughed and ran his hand through his hair with a shrug. So, he could now think of a million other things that would have been better. It didn't matter anyway; he didn't think that Q would have really sent him back to Stargate Command if he'd asked. And besides, what would he do there? "It was worth a try."


	9. Stellar Cartography

_I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you people who are reading this crazy story and many thanks to the people who have left reviews! :) I've pretty much caught up to what I'd written ahead of time, so updates from here on out will be slower, but not by very much. This story has practically been writing itself; the only problem I've had is that there are too many options as to where this story could go and I've had trouble deciding which would be the most fun direction to go while still being as true as I can to the SG-1 characters._

_Thank you again for reading! _

_Okay. Enough of that. The story._

* * *

**Chapter 9: Stellar Cartography**

Starbase 83 looked like an enormous blue mushroom in space. Captain Picard had said he would have to be in conference with other captains and Starfleet admirals while they were there to discuss the Borg, and that was just fine with Sam. The sooner they could determine a course of action, the sooner they could set about clearing the scourge from the galaxy.

_This _galaxy. There were always other galaxies, other universes, with evil to face. And she questioned whether her time was better spent helping this universe with their problems rather than trying to get back to her own. After all, her own world was in constant danger, too. Perhaps more immediate danger.

But the Borg. Right now, the only thing she could concentrate on was finding a way to get rid of them.

It didn't help that she had hit a dead-end with the _Enterprise_'s sensor logs. Wesley had done his best to clean them up, but there didn't appear to be a lot to see even with that. The wormhole had been clearly incoming to the planet from apparently nowhere. At least somewhere beyond the _Enterprise_'s unfortunately limited range at the time. Their rotten luck would have it that the _Enterprise_ would be malfunctioning at just the same time as they were coming in, wouldn't it?

She looked at the sensor logs again and felt the old frustration growing again. All this technology surrounding her, and she couldn't see it. It wasn't helping. She told herself stubbornly that it was just because she didn't understand it yet. As soon as she could find her way around it blindfolded, like she could with the systems at Stargate Command back home, then she would have the answer in no time. It just happened that way.

The science labs at Starbase 83 were much like the _Enterprise_'s, only larger and with a few more pieces of equipment. If Data were not busy talking to the admirals and such with Captain Picard, Sam would have liked to pick his positronic brain about it… and she wasn't about to go poking around the sleek gray equipment without at least some guidance. She'd had more the one computer blow up in her face that way.

"Major Carter."

Sam smiled when she heard Wesley's voice, even though she had learned that he was a little annoying. At least he was always respectful, never failing to use her rank instead of her name as she always insisted. "Sam is just fine, Acting Ensign Crusher."

Wesley grinned. "Sorry. Sam. I'm just used to using people's rank to refer to them. Wes is fine for me, too."

"Wes," Sam said. "Have you worked in a lab like this before?" She knew he was young, but he had surprised her before. He was generally considered the wunderkind of the _Enterprise_ and the only human younger than age twenty-five that Captain Picard could tolerate.

"No, I haven't," he said, looking around at it. "I did used to live on a Starbase with my mom, but I was way too young to have bothered with anything like this. Hey, Sam?" he added quickly so she couldn't ask any more questions. She looked at him and nodded for him to continue. "I was thinking about your wormhole."

"Me, too," she agreed with a smile.

"Well, I was thinking that we could start looking at our starcharts and you could match planets that you are familiar with from yours so that we could start seeing what might have been in the way of your wormhole that might have caused this."

Sam nodded slowly. "That sounds like a good idea."

"I'll show you Starbase 83's astrometrics lab," Wesley offered and waved her to follow him. They walked together down the starbase's wide blue-and-white hallways. This was, Sam thought, not what a center of science should look like, in her opinion. Science was a messy business, at least where she came from. Maybe she was just used to the concrete walls of her lab in Cheyenne Mountain.

"Wes, aren't you concerned about the Borg?" Sam asked.

Wesley sighed and nodded. "Yes. But there's nothing I can do about them. I can help you find a way to get home, though. Are you?"

Sam wasn't really expecting the question and so just shrugged. "I guess. I'm used to being presented with a problem, solving it, and moving on to the next one. Some problems take longer than others, but I… I feel like the Borg problem is more important than our getting home."

"Even though this isn't your universe?" Wesley asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Well, yeah," Sam answered. "I've gone on missions to other quantum realities before, so this is no different. Not really. There was a Sam here, too, a long time ago. We are essentially the same so… I guess, a little, this is my reality, too. And if it wasn't before, it definitely is now. Who knows how long we'll have to be here."

"I guess," Wesley agreed with a sigh. "But you probably have people who miss you there, don't you?'

Sam nodded, but she wasn't very sure. Not that she didn't have friends and family, but that she wasn't sure how much time would have passed before they got back. If ever. If they never got back, then she knew she would have been missed. But if they did get back, she swore to herself right now that, as far as it was up to her, she would never touch time-travel again. Figuring out what happened was only half the battle at this point. The other half was reversing it. But, if Q's word was as good as he insisted that it was (and Sam couldn't help but feeling that it wasn't), they would also probably need a gate.

"Here it is," Wesley said, walking into the next door that lined the hallway. He seemed to know his way around the starbase pretty well, probably because all the starbases would have been laid out the same way. Sam figured if there was anything that needed to be mass-produced, it was such labor- and materials-heavy projects like starbases.

The astrometrics lab was… beautiful, in a word. Especially for a lab. The walls were dark and the far wall was actually a bowed viewscreen like on the _Enterprise_ bridge. Consoles divided the rest of the room into quarters. Wesley went over to one of the consoles and tapped on it.

"What planet should we look for first?" he asked, pulling the star map across the view screen until they were looking at Earth orbiting its sun.

Sam studied the map for a moment and realized that it would be easiest to pick one of the closest planets to Earth. "A planet in my universe that has a Stargate on it isn't very far from Earth. Maybe a few systems away. It should be… in this area…"

Wesley took a closer look at the systems that Sam had indicated with a broad sweep of her hand across the map and then reported, "None of these are a class M planet, though."

"Class M?" Sam asked.

"A planet suitable for humanoid life," Wesley explained. "You know, oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere. Fairly extensive and diverse plant and animal life."

"Oh, it wouldn't have that," Sam answered. "Is there a class of planet that… people can live on but not… I mean, I don't think anyone would pick to live there, you know?"

"Like a class L planet?" Wesley asked.

"Sure." Sam shrugged and watched, even though she didn't really know what a class L planet entailed.

Wesley looked at the planets again and said, "There are three. This one is covered with mountains and sparse vegetation, but is really cold. This one is too hot and all covered in sand. Very high in carbon dioxide, comparatively. I don't think anything could grow here if you tried. Probably has something to do with it being in a binary system. The last one is also mostly desert and rocks." He paused and looked at Sam.

"I think that second one might be it," Sam said. "Could I see it?"

Wesley showed her the planet in relation to the other planets around it and Sam nodded. "That's it. That's Abydos."

"Abydos," Wesley repeated, smiling. "That's a lot nicer name than Vedran VI."

Sam had never thought about it. "I guess it is. So no one lives there?"

"No," Wesley answered.

"Of course, they don't," Sam agreed with a nod. "And why should they? There were no Goa'uld to take them there. There probably wouldn't even have been a Stargate there… the Goa'uld might have put it there for all we know." She sighed and looked at Abydos—Vedran VI. It was a dead and deserted planet. But she still had to feel a little connection to it even though no one was there… ever had been there.

"Now I guess we can look for P3X-797," she said, and she and Wesley went about looking for the half-light, half-dark planet.

Sam didn't know if this exercise would help her figure out what happened to bring them here… but, deep down, Sam knew that there was no point to all of this. Maybe she was supposed to be here, she thought. Maybe she could help these people fight their new enemies, avoid some of the pain and suffering that Sam knew was in the future for them no matter what happened.

A small voice in the back of her head kept trying to tell her, pleading with her, _Don't give up_. Don't give up?

_On what?_ Sam questioned the little voice, studying the map._ There's nothing here! Everything is the same and these instruments are so accurate that, if I haven't found it by now, I probably never will…_

"Wes?"

"Yes, Maj—Sam?"

"I don't see any difference between your map of the galaxy and ours. Ours are, of course, more complete up here," she motioned to the top half of the map where the Federation's propulsion systems kept them from exploring too far and too quickly. "But other than that… I don't see anything."

"Nothing…? Wesley asked sadly, tapping a few buttons slowly that sent the map of the galaxy spinning.

"No…" Sam sighed.

"But… there's got to be something," Wesley argued. "We have to find it, or you'll never get home."

Sam nodded and then shrugged. "Maybe… maybe you're right." Wesley sighed, and Sam added, looking straight at him, "But that might not be such a bad thing."


	10. Offers

**Chapter 10: Offers**

It was the nicest conference room that Jack had ever seen. Part of it was the view. Looking straight out into space was a nice touch, but not something they could duplicate in the conference room in Cheyenne Mountain. The décor, on the other hand, could have used some sprucing up. Jack wasn't sure how, but he was sure it was a fashion disaster in any century.

The captain was seated at the head of the table, like General Hammond, and there was an open seat to his left, like where Jack sat at their own conference table. Daniel and Teal'c sat next to each other on the other side, and Sam sat next to where Jack supposed he would be sitting. He walked to the table, pulled the chair back, and took a seat.

"This seems important," Jack observed, looking at everyone around the table. The sudden rise in Daniel's eyebrows was an unmistakable expression of _Ya think?_

"I suppose it could be, Colonel," Captain Picard agreed. "All of you know I was speaking with the admirals and captains of Starfleet while we were docked at Starbase 83 for repairs."

"Yeah," Jack agreed. "Lovely place."

"Isn't it?" the captain asked, though Jack was sure that he meant it to be as sarcastic as Jack's comment was. "They were very impressed with my report of the performance of your weapons and… well, they have an offer for you. Each of you." Jack's heart skidded to a stop as he imagined everyone else's did, too. "Frankly, I'm as surprised as all of you," the captain admitted.

"An offer—you mean to work for them?" Sam asked.

"Yes," Captain Picard answered. "Colonel O'Neill, they've extended the offer for you to teach the use of your projectile weaponry at the Academy. It obviously does more damage against the Borg, and your expertise with them is an opportunity they don't want to pass up."

Jack almost said _Yeah right_, but didn't get the chance. Teaching was just one of those things he didn't consider himself… "suited for." "Major Carter, your assistance in Engineering and your capacity to learn quickly has gotten you an offer to work at Utopia Planetia shipyards to help design new weaponry for the ships that will be useful against the Borg."

"Captain…" Sam breathed. She didn't sound totally opposed to the idea, Jack thought. And that worried him.

"Teal'c, Lieutenant Worf has explained to me, in detail, how he believes you would be a great addition to a security team and that your knowledge in hand-to-hand combat far exceeds his own. If you are interested, there is a place for you here on the _Enterprise_, as a security chief alongside Mr. Worf."

Teal'c nodded, as though he thought it were a great honor, but as usual said nothing on the matter.

"Doctor Jackson…"

"Captain," he interrupted. "Not that I don't appreciate the honor, but I've got to keep looking for the Iconian gateways. I'm afraid that if I were to… to accept a position somewhere else," he started nervously cleaning his glasses, "that I would just get too busy for it."

"I realize that," the captain sighed. "And your work would largely be to search for these gateways. Your appearance has renewed interested in the Iconian legends and you, being the foremost expert we have on them at the moment, would be largely self-directed. You could go—do whatever you wished."

Jack was about to speak up that, as far as it was up to him, he wasn't leaving his team to go anywhere ever, but the captain said, "I don't expect an answer right now. We have time before we leave starbase on our next mission. But I would ask that you consider your options carefully."

Everyone fell silent until Sam got up and walked out of the conference room. Everyone else followed her and the captain went to the bridge. "Well, he's got a lot of nerve," Jack grumbled.

"I don't know, Jack," Sam sighed, and Jack was jarred by the first time on this trip that she hadn't called him Colonel. This wasn't a good sign. "I have combed over every bit of the sensor logs and studied the maps between Earth and the planet we landed on… there's nothing."

"We must continue looking, Major Carter," Teal'c insisted. "We do not belong in this universe and must get home."

"I don't know about that, Teal'c," Sam objected.

"Really, can any of us know that?" Daniel asked. Jack wanted to sock him across the jaw for that. Daniel seemed to notice his murderous glare. "I mean, who is to say what would happen down either path we take. Whatever we decide, the future… you know, it's at stake, and this isn't a decision that we can just make without considering the consequences."

Leave it to Daniel to philosophize everything, even the simplest little thing. "I am not teaching at their little Academy," Jack spoke up. "We're staying here and figuring out a way to get home."

"But, why, Jack?" Sam demanded. "There's nothing more that I can do! I'm sorry, guys, but my end of this business has been a failure. I've been staring at the sensor logs for coming up on two months with no progress. I'm no closer to figuring it out now than I was on our first day here. If the data isn't there, it just isn't there."

"You just want to work on putting big guns on spaceships," Jack accused. The instant he said it, he realized that actually sounded pretty cool.

"Yeah, actually," Sam agreed. "I want to help the Federation fight their enemies. It's no less than what we would do if we were back home."

"But we aren't home!" Jack reminded.

At that, Sam sighed. "I know. I know we aren't. But I don't… _see_ it, Jack! There is no scientific reason that I can find with all the sensors of the _Enterprise_ for us to be here and not on P-029T like we should be."

"So you're saying 'fate' did this to us?" Daniel asked. "I don't buy that."

"Well, what else to you want?" Sam demanded.

For a moment, they all stood in the hallway, glaring at each other. No one seemed to know what to say. Teal'c was staring at Sam, looking irrevocably sad. Daniel was thinking, like always, but it was hard to tell what exactly. Jack didn't know what he was thinking, and for a moment, he thought he wasn't. That wasn't very unusual, though…

Jack sighed and collected his thoughts. "What else…? We want to go home."

"I can't…" Sam sighed, shaking her head. "I can't help with that. Maybe, if Daniel can find a gateway, then maybe I could MacGyver something with their equipment to get us home, but I doubt it. I don't… I don't want to fool you guys into thinking that I can get us home, because I don't think I can."

Daniel looked at the wall next to him for a moment and then back at everyone. "Can we just… hold on a second?" he said and took a deep breath. Jack tapped his foot impatiently and Sam seemed just as anxious to get this conversation over with. "Sam, you can't just give up," he said finally. "I can't even tell _cow_ from _planet_ in Iconian yet; I know how you feel. I'm going to keep looking for these gateways. I don't care where they are or whether there are any or not. I'm still going to look."

"I'm not going to give up," Sam sighed in response. "Not really. I just… have you ever looked at something, the same thing, for so long that it started to lose its meaning entirely?"

Daniel smiled. "Yes. Of course."

Sam looked at Jack and went on, "I'm not giving up. I just think there are things for me to learn here. With the Federation."

Teal'c nodded. "I agree with Major Carter. The technology of this place surpasses our own. It may be worth the extra time for Major Carter to study it, as well as keep searching for a way home."

"What does this mean, though?" Daniel questioned. "Are we all going to just go to Utopia Planetia, then?"

Great question, Jack thought. He didn't think Daniel would be happy sitting around at Utopia Planetia when there were countless ancient alien cultures to investigate. Jack didn't think he would be too thrilled with it, either, after a couple of weeks. He was already tired of not working, but if teaching at the Academy was his only option, then he thought he might just not work for a while longer.

"I believe it would be most advantageous for me to remain on the _Enterprise_," Teal'c spoke up. "I will assist their security teams in learning hand-to-hand combat and fighting the Borg. They must also learn to be proficient with Tau'ri weapons, O'Neill, which I will teach them."

Daniel sighed, as though both relieved and sad that Teal'c had just said what he did. "I think it would be best for me to research the Iconians, like Captain Picard suggested. I'd have to see some dig sites and… travel around, though, and that doesn't really fit with the picture."

"Are we talking about splitting up?" Sam asked, her tone almost slightly panicked.

"No!" Jack snapped.

"Wait a second, Jack," Daniel interrupted. "I don't like the idea any more than you do, but… this could be the best option." He took off his glasses and looked at Sam. "You can continue your research at Utopia Planetia, right?"

"Yes…" Sam answered tentatively.

"And Teal'c can study the weapons they have on the _Enterprise_ with Worf in case we can use them back home," Daniel went on.

"Indeed."

"Daniel," Jack said. "We aren't splitting up."

"Well, what do you suggest, then?" he asked.

Jack shrugged. This was it? This was how SG-1 was going to end? "Wherever we go, we go together."

"We split up off-world all the time," Daniel pointed out.

"Yeah, Daniel, you don't think this is a little different?" Jack asked sarcastically. Then he sighed and looked at all of them, knowing that they were at least a little right. Just a little bit. "Alright, so the plan is that Sam goes to Utopia Planet or whatever, Teal'c sticks around on the _Enterprise_, and Daniel goes gallivanting off though the galaxy looking for Iconians. Is that it?"

Daniel shrugged and Sam nodded. "That is it, O'Neill," Teal'c answered.

"Well, I don't like it," Jack muttered. "But I guess I see the advantage." He sighed. "This sucks."

Daniel smiled, laughing a little. "Yeah, it does."

"What will you do, Colonel O'Neill?" Teal'c asked, then.

"You probably wouldn't want to come with me, Colonel," Sam chuckled.

Jack smiled a little at her. Sam was going to be too busy with her kumbayah session with a bunch of Starfleet eggheads and probably wouldn't even notice that she was away. She routinely got lost in her own lab at SGC, so Jack wasn't too worried about her. Teal'c would be fine on his own; he always was. The only person going to places unknown totally alone was Daniel.

"You're right," Jack agreed, and looked at Daniel. "I guess you'll be on your own at a bunch of boring dig sites?"

"Probably in the beginning," Daniel agreed. "I think some other archaeologists will be joining me later on." Then he frowned and revised, "Maybe."

Jack nodded and considered a few more moments. "Well, then, I'll go to some of those… exhilarating dig sites with you."

"Um, no, really that's not necessary," Daniel said.

"Nonsense," Jack interrupted. "Sounds like one hell of a party. Wouldn't want to miss it."


	11. Keep Smiling

**Chapter 11: Keep Smiling**

All too soon, they were on Starbase 83 again, waiting for their runabout to be cleared. Runabout, Daniel thought, was kind of a patronizing name for the ship given their circumstances. It was as if they could do little more than "run about" the galaxy searching for things that weren't there. But that was true. He just didn't like to think about it.

Jack backed Daniel into a corner away from the swarming Starfleet personnel waiting for their ships to take off and whispered, "I think the Neutral Zone is off-limits to Federation ships, Daniel."

"I assume that's why they call it the Neutral Zone," he agreed. While Daniel had to agree that he'd had better plans than this one, he also knew that there wasn't really a better option at the moment. "But the planet we came to first was in the Neutral Zone. I'd like to go back and give it a more thorough look-over. Any problems we run into, we'll handle when we get to them."

Jack shook his head. "Look, I'd normally be all for sticking it to the Romulans… or whatever it is we're trying to do, but runabouts aren't exactly ships of war."

"Good thing we aren't going to war, then," Daniel said. "Look, Starfleet was kind enough to give me a runabout to go where I pleased without having to wait for one of their starships to get around to it. We'll be joined by a few research teams once they can get them together and we won't have to worry about it anymore. But, because of that, this is my only chance to get a good look at anything in the Neutral Zone. And, like it or not, I don't have anywhere else to start."

Jack paused a moment and finally nodded that he understood. "You're saying that we should break the law now while we have the chance."

"I wouldn't put it that way, exactly…" Daniel said slowly.

A computerized voice spoke over the comm above their heads. "Doctor Daniel Jackson and Jack O'Neill, the runabout _U.S.S. Muru_ is ready for launch. Doctor Daniel Jackson and Jack O'Neill, please report to the runabout _U.S.S. Muru_."

Daniel looked up at the ceiling as though he could see who was talking up there. He looked at Jack and then picked up his case of books and research. He had the brief wish that Sam were there to pilot it, and looked down the expansive hallway to where Sam was waiting to catch a ship on the way to Earth so she could be dropped off at the Utopia Planetia shipyards. And Teal'c was on the _Enterprise_.

"God, I can't believe we're going to be on opposite ends of the galaxy," Daniel said quietly.

"We'll give them a call as soon as we have a free minute," Jack told him wandering off toward the runabout _Muru_ with his own bag of clothes and a fishing pole. Even though Daniel wasn't sure what he was going to use that for. "Though I don't know when we're going to find the time. Thrilling as this is going to be, and all."

Daniel sighed with a smile, shouldered his backpack, got a tighter grip on his bag, and followed. This was going to be a long trip to the Neutral Zone…

* * *

Sam heard the announcement for Daniel and Jack to get to their runabout. Any minute now, she could look out the window and see the little spaceship chugging away at impulse until they got far enough away to warp. Then they would be gone. "Good luck," she whispered, even though they'd already said their good-byes and good-lucks in person. Daniel had wished her luck twice, which was good: she was going to need it.

She wasn't used to failure. Not like this. Sure, she'd had some close calls in the past, normally involving the imminent destruction of Earth. She had, though, always managed to pull through with a solution, even if it was at the last second.

She pulled the PADD out of her small travel bag and scrolled through the sensor logs. Nothing obvious presented itself to her. The map that she'd downloaded, marked with planets whose names she remembered from home, seemed completely normal. Nothing was missing. Nothing was different. So what was going on?

She put the PADD back and let her mind wander away from that problem. Maybe someday, in her quarters at the shipyards, she'd wake up one day and realize what she'd been missing. Maybe being able to see Earth as a tiny little star on the horizon would be an inspiration to never stop trying to get back home.

But maybe not.

The Borg were a formidable adversary that she was sure they could beat with the Federation's level of technology and the warning that they were on the way. She couldn't ask for better odds under the circumstances.

Did she want to stay here just because it seemed easier to her? Impossible. She had been doing hard things since she was young, climbing the ranks of the Air Force, making her way in a man's world. And she'd made it, and continued forging ahead against incredible odds.

This wasn't going to be easy, she knew. But it was going to be worth it. Unlike searching sensor logs day after day for what wasn't there.

She looked out the window for the ship that she knew was coming for a stopover on its way to Earth. The Nebula-class ship was now full of scientists and engineers on their way to Utopia Planetia to help figure out how to fight the Borg, too. As far as Sam knew, she was the only one who had any real combat experience, since the last war the Federation was involved in was apparently a long time ago.

Not that her combat experience would mean anything in this century.

And, yet, she knew it did.

"Major Samantha Carter?" an unfamiliar voice asked from behind her.

Sam turned around and saw a woman about her age with brown hair. "I was coming to the _Enterprise_ to try to convince you to work at Utopia Planetia when I got the message that you had already decided. I'm Doctor Leah Brahms; I'm a senior design engineer there."

"Oh!" Sam said, smiling. "Nice to meet you. I'm… an astrophysicist." She decided it would be better to abridge her list of accomplishments to the one that might turn out to be useful here. Not that it would be incredibly useful. "I'm really looking forward to getting to work there."

"The _Palm Bay_ will be here in about twenty minutes," Doctor Brahms said. "Why don't we sit down? I'd like to hear about some of your ideas…"

Sam's mind raced. She didn't have any ideas yet. Here she was, talking to a brilliant starship engineer and all she could think about was Jack, Daniel, and Teal'c. Were they all going to be okay? Would Daniel be able to find what he was looking for? Would Teal'c be alright on the _Enterprise_? What in the world was Jack going to do on a runabout for a few weeks?

"Yeah, of course," she said with an effort. _Keep smiling_. "I have a few."

* * *

"Agh!" Teal'c shouted and thrust the bat'leth in the face of the skull-headed alien creature. It jerked back, its manufactured neck broken, and quivered on the ground at his feet. Teal'c could still only barely grasp that he was in a ship speeding away from Doctor Jackson, Colonel O'Neill, and Major Carter, even while they were on their own ships speeding away from him.

He thought he was alone on Earth. The only Jaffa. Now not only was he the only Jaffa in the universe, but the people he was closest to in all the universes he knew of were gone as well.

He dropped the bat'leth and heard it clang on the fabricated stone walkway. He could only practice with this program so much, only practice with the small and comparatively weak security team on the _Enterprise_ for so long. They would learn, eventually, he told himself. They needed time and practice, and he had taught them all he could with their current expertise.

The _Enterprise_ had offered little challenge for his skills, and there were few things that Teal'c thought of as a greater waste of time than simply exploring for no reason. Surely there was a people out there, like his people, that were in need of his help. Sam had found the Federation needed her help. Surely there were a people like the Jaffa who needed Teal'c's. Surely there was technology anywhere that Teal'c could learn about for use back home.

Inspired, Teal'c left the holodeck and went to find Worf. "Computer," Teal'c said to the panel in the wall beside him. "Locate Lieutenant Worf."

"Lieutenant Worf is in Recreation Room 7 on deck 13."

"Thank you," Teal'c said, and headed in that direction. One turbolift later, Teal'c walked into the recreation room unbidden, interrupted Worf in a mok'bara session. Worf did not seem to see that Teal'c had even entered, however, and continued in his Klingon form of martial arts as though Teal'c were not even there.

"Lieutenant Worf," Teal'c began. "You are a warrior."

"Yes," Worf agreed.

"As am I. Do you ever feel that the _Enterprise_ does not allow you enough practice? Enough challenge?"

Worf stopped his practice and stood full length. "No."

Teal'c began to pace. "I require more," he said. "I cannot be satisfied with patrolling the ship waiting for something to happen." He looked up and said, "I must find a planet in your galaxy that needs me."

Worf thought about this seriously. "I would be… displeased to lose your expertise, Teal'c."

"My friends have gone to places where I would not be useful," Teal'c admitted. "I cannot go home to rescue my own people from the enslavement they are in. I must help someone and the _Enterprise_ is not in need of my help."

Worf sighed and then said, "The United Federation of Planets has been putting pressure on a species called Cardassians to withdraw from the occupation of a small, inconsequential planet called Bajor. I have heard of terrible reports coming from Bajor of the mistreatment of the Bajorans, and of a resistance movement." He shook his head. "You may find that they are in need of a warrior with a hundred years' experience."

Teal'c nodded. Bajor. "How would I get there?"

"Bajor is very nearly on the other side of the quadrant."

Teal'c face fell. "How long until we return?"

"Perhaps three Earth-months," Worf answered.

"I will bide my time, then," Teal'c agreed. "Tell me of Bajor."


	12. Fate

**Chapter 12: Fate**

"Oh, well isn't this a pickle."

Q frowned at the closest "natural" Iconian gateway he'd found. It was quite a pickle. The Continuum had declined to let him make a new one—an infinitely more convenient endeavor—and now Q was stuck with the fact that he prided himself on keeping his arrangements. Prided himself on twisting the fabric of the galaxy to his own whims and now he had to figure a way to do it oh-so-cleverly without raising too many eyebrows at the Continuum.

No amount of politicking would change their minds, Q thought grumpily. They were just as ready for the Iconians to die out and be forgotten as anyone. Of course, the appearance of the visitors had done nothing for that. People were interested now; the Federation was interested… at least for the time being. They would soon be distracted. Q thought the Continuum might just blink away the four intruders, but they weren't doing that probably for more reason than one. The Continuum's secret might be safe if they stayed. Daniel wasn't _that_ good.

Q-too, who had tagged along with him much to Q's annoyance, laughed gleefully and leaned back in an invisible chair in the void Q was standing in over the planet Vandros IV. Of course, the only remaining "naturally-occurring" Iconian gateway would be all the way out here in the boonies.

"Stop being a pouty-face, Q. You'd think with unlimited power over the cosmos and space and time, you might be a little happier."

"But I'm not happy," Q said to Q-too. "I said I always keep my agreements. Danny-boy would be heartbroken if I left him out in the cold..."

Not to mention that there were just so many things out-of-place, now. Granted, it was new and exciting and there was precious little in the universe new and exciting to him now. He could mess with the minds of all the little mortals he pleased, but even that was losing its ability to amuse him.

"That's what you get for making agreements. And hanging out with Humans. Really, Q, will you ever learn?"

Q let the moment hang between them, thinking perhaps he ought to get some enjoyment out of Q-too. He'd been annoying enough, so it was only fair, wasn't it? Then he smiled at Q-too. "No. Of course, I won't." Then he sighed. "Of course, my problem here is that the Federation won't discover this planet for another couple hundred years at least."

"Oh, at least," Q-too agreed with a nod. Then he bolted up from this non-existent chair. "You're not going to toss them halfway across the galaxy in the other direction, are you? If I've told you once, I've told you a hundred times... do not provoke the Founders. Be careful, Q. Be very careful."

"Don't worry. The _Enterprise_ isn't going anywhere. I always keep my arrangements." Then Q hesitated and laughed. "But, then again, I don't. Almost never, come to think of it. Besides, our dear visitors from another reality have since bid mon capitán farewell." He laughed and then frowned at himself. But he had to keep his agreement this time. Without his help, the fate of two universes would be drastically different.

Not that it was his fault. No, leave it to the Vulcans to rip a hole in the fabric of two universes in one fell swoop. Who would have known such disastrous consequences would come from a simple experiment two hundred years ago?

"Exactly," Q-too agreed. "No need to lose sleep over it." Q-too pulled a triple-axel in space for no reason and ended with a flourish. "I'm bored. Isn't there some barely-sentient species out there we can go play tricks on? They're the most fun. They never remember."

"No!" Q objected. "No! There's no time! There are arrangements to be made." He raised his hand to snap but Q-too shoved his hand in his face, effectively distracting him. "What is wrong with you!" Q asked, batting the offending appendage away.

"I'm bored," Q-too answered.

"Well, you can help me find some disillusioned Jem'Hadar, then," Q suggested. "I think that's a good idea, don't you?"

"You're not going to..." Q-too frowned seriously and pointed at Q. "You're not... are you? They're as ready for that as they are for the Borg. You like introducing ridiculous threats to the Federation, don't you?"

"Oh, they're not a threat," Q insisted. "Not really. I mean, they'll win, won't they? Actually. Yes. I do, I really do. You have no idea how exciting it is. They're so small, but they think they control so much. It is quite like watching…" Q frowned, unable for the moment to come up with an apt simile. "I don't know. Perhaps like watching the beach attempt to hold back the tide." Then he smiled. "That would make me the moon, wouldn't it?"

"Uh-huh..." Q-too pondered. "How considerate of you. You know, this will be the end of the Federation as you know it. Probably the end of humanity. Wouldn't that be a trip? And then what will you do for entertainment?"

Q smiled wistfully and decided now was the perfect time to quote one of his dear friends... even though he'd declined the invitation to be Q, too. "Ah, but fate. Protects fools, little children, and ships called _Enterprise_. As long as the _Enterprise_ is the flagship of the Federation, it will never be truly defeated."

"You put a lot of stock in fate," Q-too observed.

"Oh... well, that's easy when you have so much control over it. Don't you agree?" Q-too shrugged and nodded as though he agreed, tentatively. Q grinned and raised his hand to snap once more. "You will join me, of course?"

Q-too considered, then raised his own hand. He probably had nothing better to do. _Snap_.

* * *

"Magnets!" Jack announced.

Sam and Daniel exchanged a smile, and Jack smirked to himself. Of course, magnets were the answer to everything, in Jack's eyes. Daniel doubted that Sam's problem with figuring out some weaponry for the Federation against the Borg would be solved with magnets.

"Well, I know that you'll figure out something," Daniel said encouragingly. "What did they think about the hyperdrive technology?"

"They thought it was very interesting and we might pursue it after we figure out what to do with the weapons that can fight the... wait... did Colonel O'Neill say 'magnets,' Daniel?"

"Well, yeah. Doesn't he always?" Daniel asked.

Sam laughed, and reached offscreen for a PADD, which she began tapping into furiously. "That's actually a really great idea."

"I knew it," Jack said from behind him. "Magnets, Daniel. Magnets."

"What is?"

"Magnets," Sam explained. "We've been trying to figure out how to propel something like a bullet into a Borg ship without using their typical propellants. It's the equivalent of using F18s instead of shot, it's just too hard, takes too long, and is way too expensive—materials-wise—to produce it."

"You mean you don't want to use forty-million-dollar bullets?" Jack asked.

"That's the general idea, yes," Sam answered. "I don't know why I didn't think about this before. Because of the way matter works in space—the conservation of motion—magnets would be perfect. We can literally throw rocks at them."

Jack and Daniel exchanged glances. Yeah. Jack didn't know what she was talking about either. "Sounds great," Daniel said, going on in a hurry, "Hey, have you heard from Teal'c?"

"No..." Sam sighed. "No, not a word. Not since he told me that he was leaving the Enterprise to go to Bajor. I'm kind of worried about him..."

Daniel sighed and then Jack offered, "Nah. He's a big, scary guy. No need to worry about him. He'll be running circles around those Cardies. For a free Bajor!"

Sam shook her head and smiled. "Well, I'm sorry, but I've got to work on my magnets. This is going to be perfect. We'll call them O'Neill guns or something."

"Thank you, thank you. It was my pleasure. I'll be here all day. All week. All year."

Sam laughed a little. "I take it you've had no luck with the Iconian gateways?"

"Not really..." Daniel sighed. "But I think I might have found a lead maybe. It will take about three months to get there though."

"I feel like I'm just running around in circles with these sensor readings," Sam agreed. "Not even anyone here knows what to make of them." She hesitated and then asked, "Any word from Q?"

"Not a single word..." Daniel sighed. "I don't think I thought he would keep his promise anyway. He likes to... mess with people's heads. Sure did a number on mine, I guess... Well, I don't want to keep you from your magnets. I'll keep looking for those gateways, and Jack will see if he can find Teal'c..."

"I will?" Jack asked, and then revised, "I will!"

Sam smiled. "It's good to talk to you guys. Shouldn't be much longer before I can get out of here. I mean... this is great work, but... not the same."

"I know what you mean," Daniel agreed. He tapped the console in front of him, and then said, "Talk to you later, Sam."

"Later, Daniel."

Jack waved over Daniel's head just before Sam's image blinked away. "Sayonara."


	13. Wolf359 Take-2

_I do still live. Sorry for the ridiculous delay. Hopefully this won't be a habit…_

* * *

**Chapter 13: Wolf359-Take 2**

"Daniel!" Sam shouted as soon as she saw him on the communicator. The only thing was that Daniel couldn't quite see her. He squinted in the sun and moved the viewscreen onto a rock in the shade. Better, but... not really. He smiled at her when he could barely making out that dark blob that, he supposed, was her head. Then she said, "Thank god you're alright. Where's Jack?"

"Hey," Daniel interrupted. "We're both fine. He's fishing." Daniel looked over his shoulder toward the little pond that Jack had found. "Over there somewhere. What's wrong? What happened?"

"Where are you guys?" Sam asked, effectively ignoring his question.

"Somewhere near the Cardassian border, I think. Why?"

Daniel reached over for the communicators that he and Jack used... some kind of Klingon-design that they had picked up at the equivalent of a junkyard on a moon. It had cost Daniel a gold trinket with Vulcan markings on it, but he ultimately didn't care. If it had been an Earth artifact back home, he would have seen that piece in a museum, would have starved before he sold it. But the galaxy was a scary place outside of the Federation.

Just as he summoned Jack, Sam got a hold of herself. "I've been trying to reach you for a week," she said. "I had to assume the worst—I thought you were dead. Or worse."

"No, we've been fine. I guess we just went through some areas where communicators didn't work." He looked around at the planet they'd been on for the past week and a half. "Maybe it's something in the soil here..." he mused.

"You can't be out there anymore, Daniel," Sam said.

Daniel only half-heard her, but his brain objected before he even figured it out. "What? No." Jack came down a path through the trees right then. "Why do you mean? I'm not going to just stop looking, regardless."

"Why not?" Jack asked. "Not like you've found anything. Except that the Iconians were totally and completely wiped out a couple of centuries ago." When he arrived, he looked at the communicator and shaded his eyes, smiling at Sam sarcastically. "Really interesting stuff. Fascinating, really. I love dirt."

"If you had another option for finding a gateway," Daniel said patronizingly, "then I'd consider that."

"The nearest Federation base, you guys have to go there," Sam ordered. "Right now."

"Wait. Hold on a second," Jack interrupted. "Now what's got you all riled up?"

Sam shook her head, like she didn't want to talk about it. And now Daniel didn't want her to talk about it either. It must have been horrible. Terrifying. Daniel reached for his research. "Alright, we're going then. Where are you? We'll be on our way this afternoon."

Sam sighed again, shook her head again. Daniel stopped. She didn't know what it was she thought was best for them to do. "No..." she said quietly. "I just have to know you're safe, but not at the expense of getting home. Just..." Daniel frowned at the screen, waiting for the truth to come. It would be much easier if she would just tell them what happened. "The Borg. The Borg came. One of their ships against forty of ours. Twenty-one of our ships came back. Over five thousand people were assimilated. Made into Borg. One person was rescued."

"One ship?" Jack shouted.

"Five thousand?" Daniel asked. That was a lot of people. At least the Goa'uld could only take as many as there were of them. The Goa'uld were in large numbers, but they kept their numbers considerably smaller because they considered one another as much of a threat as enemies without. This left them two options: get home quick, or decide that they were staying quick. Because the Borg had to either be dealt with or behind them.

"Yes," Sam answered. "One ship." Then she took a deep breath. "I just had to know you guys were safe, I—my plans didn't work. Not like we'd hoped. The Borg captured and assimilated Captain Picard, so they were prepared for the weapons we were going to be using. They couldn't defend against it, but they were ready to repair the damage."

"So what are we going to do?" Daniel asked. "Whatever we do, we have to decide right now. Are we giving up on getting home? Or are we going to keep trying, Borg or not?"

Jack looked from Daniel to Sam as though confused. "Has the situation really changed?" he wondered. "The Borg are coming. Whoop-de-doo. They have been for—how long have we been puttering around this universe?"

"Jack, it's different!" Sam objected. "They're not just coming anymore. They're here."

"One ship," Jack reminded.

"There are more coming!" Sam said. "Jack! People died! A lot more are going to and I don't think that we can stop it without more resources than we have!"

"Everything has changed," Daniel agreed. "You and I can't be safe on our own out here anymore."

"And Starfleet is no longer interested in committing resources to studying the Iconian gateways," Sam added.

"There, you see?" Jack said, sounding somehow self-satisfied. Daniel squinted up at him in confusion. "Nothing has changed." Daniel watched Jack look between himself and Sam, a pinch in his brow that was either confusion or anger. "Come on, you guys!" Jack said finally. "What is our other option? Wait around for that Q-guy to drop a Stargate in Daniel's lap? I don't think so."

"I don't think he'd do that, anyway…" Daniel nodded, thinking. They really continued to have no choices except to continue doing what they were doing. "Well, what do you suggest we do, then, Sam?"

"One month," Sam said. "One month out there and then we have to figure out something different."

"Why one month? What happens then?" Daniel asked.

"New assignments from Utopia Planetia," Sam answered. "You and Jack can either catch a ride here on one of the ships coming, or I can take a starship closer to you. Splitting up was a bad idea…"

"I could've told you that," Jack muttered.

Daniel laughed, partially in frustration, but mostly from disbelief. "We haven't been wandering around all this time to go back empty-handed. I can't find these things if I'm not looking for them." Before Sam could explain again, Daniel shook his head and interrupted, "No, you're right. You're right. I can just research from Utopia Planetia."

"Hey," Jack spoke up. "Where's Teal'c? Anyone hear from him lately?"

"No…" Sam sighed. "Not for lack of trying."

"I'm sure he's fine," Jack said with a wave of his hand. "What would the Borg want with a backwoods bumpkin planet like Bajor anyway?" Daniel smiled at that—Bajor had a deep and rich culture he would have liked to study more, but since it had nothing to do with Iconia, he had to prioritize. But calling Bajor a backwoods bumpkin planet? Only Jack…

"So we'll meet you at Utopia Planetia," Daniel finished up, more asking than saying. He wasn't sure what they were doing and he wondered if they knew, either.

"Alright," Sam agreed.

"Civilization!" Jack exalted. "No dirt! That good ol' sterile smell of starship-making and scientists working with magnets!"


	14. The Sisko Kid

_This seems super fast to me. There are two years between Chapter 1 and Chapter 14 after all…_

* * *

**Chapter 14: The Sisko Kid**

The aftermath of Wolf 359 had brought a steady stream of morose Federation officers to Utopia Planetia where they awaited reassignment. She didn't envy the grieving they were in the midst of and tried not to be too happy about Daniel and Jack coming. They should be here less than an hour, in fact. She stood watching out the window, knowing that the watched starship never comes, but unable to help herself anyway.

She was so enthralled with her watching and waiting that she only barely noticed when a little boy came to stand next to her. He was dressed rather like Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn, and might have held a fishing rod and straw hat and not looked strange despite the fact that he was looking out a window on a starbase at an expanse of stars. He looked up at her briefly and then back out. Was he watching for the ship, too?

"Hi," Sam said to him with a smile. "I'm Sam." He looked up again, and then back down. "Are you waiting for someone?" she asked. He answered by going up to the window, and plastered his two hands and face to the glass. "Me, too," she said quietly, watching him now instead.

He looked up at her, his big brown eyes smiling despite his mouth not following suit. "Are they coming on the _Yamaguchi_?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah, they are. Who are you waiting for?" She knelt down to look out the window at his level. They might be sitting here a while, Sam thought… but she routinely held out hope for an early arrival.

"No one," he said solemnly, as though what he had just said and done made perfect sense. Maybe he always waited for the incoming starships, Sam wondered. "Who are you waiting for?"

"My friends," Sam answered.

"Were they at Wolf 359, too?" he asked.

Sam sighed. Bringing children into the battle there had been a necessity, and an unfortunate one. The Federation, as Sam was quickly learning, was entirely unprepared for war. The only ships they had in the vicinity of the Borg cube to help repel its attack on Earth were ones that, while maneuverable and heavy enough to be warships in another universe, were people mostly by officers and their families.

"No, they weren't," she answered. She hoped to steer the conversation away from the tragic happenings at the system so near to Earth's star-system, thinking that this little thing might be traumatized by it, but he didn't seem to mind talking about it.

"I was," he said. "The ship shook and things were falling and exploding. I was trapped and… things were on fire. There was lots of smoke," he explained, then looked down. "My mom died."

Sam sighed again, closed her eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Jake!" A loud voice boomed through the empty space like it spoke through a microphone. The timbre of his voice echoed off the walls, ceilings, and windows with all the tone and class of a jazz singer.

The little boy spun around immediately and waved at what Sam assumed was his father. They were something alike in appearance, and had the same eyes. However, the boy was lanky unlike the commander that stood before her now. Of course, the boy was also probably eight years old, while his father appeared to be in his mid-thirties.

Sam stood to introduce herself, but Jake appeared to want that honor for himself. "This is Sam."

"I know who this is," he said to Jake, walking to the window and looking out. He looked for what seemed to Sam to be a long time before turning back. "I am Lieutenant Commander Benjamin Sisko. I can see you've met my son." He put one of his hands on the top of Jake's head, and the little boy leaned into him.

"Sort of," Sam said with a smile.

Lieutenant Commander Sisko smiled weakly; Sam thought that such an expression didn't suit him. But, then, she didn't blame him. His wife had died only about a month ago. Sam didn't know if she'd been assimilated or killed, but she also knew that, at the end of the day, it didn't much matter.

"I'm, um, waiting for the _Yamaguchi_," Sam offered, to fill the silence.

"I know."

When Sam's eyebrows kinked in confusion he smiled again, this time more real. "How…?" she began.

"I was transferred here to oversee ship design, and you are, starting next week, under my command," Lieutenant Commander Sisko explained. "Well, as much as you can be under anyone's command, I suppose," he pondered. "Interesting situation you have. Independent and yet… dependent."

Sam had never thought of it that way. But it was definitely right. She hadn't gotten through her entire thought before Lieutenant Commander Sisko motioned his hand toward the window. "There's your ship, now, Major."

Sam almost leaped for joy. How long had it been since she'd seen Daniel and Jack? It seemed like nearly forever. She must have been just grinning out the window like a giddy idiot, because Lieutenant Commander Sisko was chuckling. But she didn't care. Once that ship docked, she was as good as gone.

And it finally did. She waited outside the airlocks, tapping her foot while they took their own sweet time opening. A sea of faces filtered past, everyone seeming to know exactly where they were going. Some to their assigned quarters. Others to see their new commanding officer. More straight to work. It was the best thing to do in a crisis. But Jack and Daniel… where were they?

It didn't take too long for her to figure it out. The crowd slowed to almost a stop as, apparently, only a few who didn't know where they were going could gum up the works. And then someone shouted over the small murmuring, "Well, excuse me, madam! After you! Well, go on!"

"Jack?"

"Sam!" Daniel returned from out of sight.

Jack decided to leave whatever manners he had fabricated behind as he shoved through the remaining flood of personnel and, before she knew it, his arms were wrapped around her. "It's so good to see you," she said over Jack's shoulder to Daniel as he emerged.

He was rather the picture of a Federation civilian. When in Rome and all that, Sam thought with a smile. "Daniel, look at you!" she laughed, stepping back a moment to look at both of them. On Earth in their universe and their time frame… it was hideous. One of those ugly-Christmas-sweater type things. But it somehow looked like something Daniel would wear.

Jack, on the other hand, had somehow managed to keep to his fatigues, even though these were obviously new. "Oh, please, don't bring that up," Jack muttered, eyeing Daniel in disapproval. "My great-aunt made more attractive sweaters."

Daniel just chuckled and enveloped Sam in a quick hug before drawing back and readjusting the sling on his shoulder-canister. "Utopia Planetia," he said. "I've seen pictures, but this is something amazing."

"It is," Sam agreed. "I'll show you around…" She spun to see Lieutenant Commander Sisko still standing there. He was looking out the window passively, not really watching them but probably listening. "Oh. Daniel, Jack, this is Lieutenant Commander Sisko, my new commanding officer."

"Nice to meet'cha." Jack offered his hand in greeting.

"Lieutenant Commander, this is Colonel Jack O'Neill and Doctor Daniel Jackson," Sam offered.

"These days I leave off the 'colonel' part," Jack sighed. "Any military personnel in this gaggle of bigheads?"

"Jack," Sam hissed.

Lieutenant Commander Sisko just chuckled at that and shrugged. "Probably more now than before, Colonel." He looked around at the Starfleet personnel swarming about them and sighed, repeating, "Probably more now than before…"


	15. Gratitude

_Thank you for the reviews and comments, everyone; and thank you so much for reading! _

* * *

**Chapter 15: Gratitude**

"Peldor joi." Mobara folded up his piece of paper and set fire to it, tossing into the rocks and watching it burn. It was a greeting, but none of them were going and hopefully no one was coming.

They didn't have the correct leaves to burn, either. And it wasn't even a fire pit. But Teal'c knew that the celebration of the holiday, however pale, was important to his Bajoran comrades. There wasn't a lot to be thankful for, but there were always troubles to leave behind. Two Bajorans were still scribbling out their lists on the renewal scrolls.

Teal'c looked down at his. It was empty, save one item.

One of the significant acts of the festival was the writing of one's problems on renewal scrolls, which were then tossed into a fire. Symbolically, one's troubles burned to ashes. The Bajoran Gratitude Festival hadn't been held on Bajor for a while, as far as Teal'c knew, but he didn't keep up with the holidays really. There were too many battles to fight, too many prisoners to free. Speaking of which… He picked up his writing implement and added to the list that the Bajoran resistance was without a leader.

If they were able to free Li Nalas from this prison camp tomorrow, perhaps everything could be changed.

"Teal'c?"

He lifted his eyes from his paper and saw Kira handing him a match. He took it and stared at it.

"Too many troubles to list?" Gantt wondered. He hadn't yet burnt his paper, either.

Teal'c shrugged. "Yes," he answered. "Far too many." A trouble he couldn't explain; a fear he could not face. When he wrote it down, he realized just how much it disturbed him. He wished that burning this piece of paper would do more than just symbolically take his troubles. He needed that taken _literally_. But there was no way, not in this universe.

So he would have to do what good he could and then…

"Here's to some distant hope that… someday things will be better…" Kira muttered, setting fire to her own page. She turned her eyes on Teal'c. Young eyes.

At twenty-four or twenty-five, Kira was the youngest member of the Shakaar Resistance cell, except, perhaps, besides Gantt. Teal'c hadn't quite figured exactly how old he was. But he had to be older than Kira, since she got the most ribbing for being so young. She had been twelve when she joined. Lupaza had thought her too young then and… Teal'c wondered if she were too young now.

"Someday," Teal'c echoed, striking his match on his page. He tossed it onto the rocks next to Kira's and watched them burn. "What was on your list?" he asked unobtrusively to end the silence and quiet his anxieties.

"Too many to list," Gantt laughed. "I guess that's true for lots of Bajorans, though, huh?"

"Cardassians," Lupaza hissed, tossing her burning page into the pile and crossing her arms over her knees.

"Hear, hear," Shakaar agreed. "Empty stomachs."

"No soft beds," Mobara added.

"Broken weapons," Latha growled.

The others all chimed in with their own small troubles, large troubles. Families, friends in labor camps. Sore muscles. Broken hearts and minds. For Bajorans, the list went on and on. "Like I said," Gantt sighed. "Too many to list."

They all fell silent again until Kira whispered, "Fear."

All eyes turned to her. On this day of all days, were they all afraid? They were about to try something audacious. It might very well get them killed. They were courageous. But they were afraid. Even Teal'c could admit that. Everyone else, after a moment, nodded in agreement, too.

"What about you, Teal'c?" Shakaar asked.

"Yeah," Mobara agreed. "We all shared one."

Teal'c sighed and looked down at the ashes of his list. His paper was gone, but the problems remained. He could have written that he was so far from home he didn't know the way back, but he didn't. He didn't view that so much as a problem anymore, but as a reality. An opportunity. He could and would rise to the occasion. He worried about his friends on the other side of the galaxy as they worked on a way to get home, and wondered if they worried about him. And then there was the lack of leadership in the resistance. The lack of a rallying cry. The lack of strength of character, the lack of men and women willing and able to fight.

But all of it paled in comparison to the one thing written above his hopes for Li Nalas. He couldn't tell them about it, though: they wouldn't understand it. "Aimlessness," he sighed.

Shakaar nodded in agreement, and his followers all did the same after. "Well, tomorrow we have an aim. We have a goal. So get some rest, everyone. Tomorrow is going to be… a big day…" He looked around, his eyes lingering momentarily on Lupaza before turning his back to the group and lying down on the hard rocks beneath them. One by one, the other members of the resistance cell followed his lead and laid down to rest.

Except Kira. Teal'c had found, after a year and a half with the Shakaar resistance cell, that she was very much a woman of her own. She did as she would, but followed orders and never lost sight of the good of the group. Tonight, it was for the good of the group that she stayed awake. They were in enemy territory…

"Aren't you going to sleep?" Kira asked. A moment later, she corrected herself. "Rest?"

"Two pairs of eyes are better than one," Teal'c pointed out. "I do not require 'rest' at this time."

She nodded, rested her chin on her drawn-up knee, and then took a deep breath. "What did you really write?" she ventured quietly.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow at her. "You would not understand."

"Probably not," Kira agreed. "But there's no way anyone can help you unless you say something."

"There are bigger things to worry about," Teal'c answered.

"There are always bigger things to worry about…"

For a moment, Teal'c had the thought to simply tell her: his symbiote was nearing maturity. He thought about admitting that he was worried about what would happen to him should it be allowed to age. What would happen to this universe? Of course, that couldn't be allowed to happen. Teal'c would have to kill the Goa'uld before that happened. And that would mean… that would mean that Teal'c would follow shortly thereafter.

"There is not much time," Teal'c said finally.

"Before what?" Kira asked.

"Before I… before I must move on again."

"You're not very good at lying, either," Kira confided with a small smile. She didn't smile often.

"I will think on my problem and perhaps a solution will present itself," he promised. They both looked at the pile of dark ashes swirling in the light breeze. "In the meantime, there is nothing I can do about it."

"No one can add a day to his life by worrying," Kira agreed with a nod. "Old Bajoran proverb…"

Teal'c nodded. He would have to leave soon, though. He would have to find Colonel O'Neill, Doctor Jackson, and Major Carter before something drastic happened. Perhaps they might be able to find a solution. But in the meantime… he hated to leave the Bajorans. He simply couldn't. Not when there was something he could still do.

He shook his head and sighed. Some "Gratitude Festival."


	16. 2153

_Thank you to all for your reviews and patience! I hope this chapter was worth waiting for._

_For some background, part of this chapter takes place during the show Enterprise._

* * *

**Chapter 16: 2153**

_"Our Science Directorate has determined that time travel is impossible."_

"Over seven million lives lost."

Sakkon nodded solemnly. But he was a Vulcan; Vulcans always did that. The universe was a solemn place, and it certainly was that today. Certainly for Keller… his Human heart ached for the loss on his home planet but there was little he could do here on the Vulcan science vessel _Nyrrik_. That was something Vulcans didn't seem to grasp.

For all the things they did grasp.

"Captain Archer still insists on his time-travel theory, I assume?" Sakkon deadpanned then.

"Well, yes. I believe so." As far as he'd heard, Captain Archer was stuck on that. And Keller believed him, what was more. He wasn't about to volunteer that information, however, since he doubted that the Vulcans would be as interested… Or perhaps they would.

"You believe him, do you not?" Sakkon asked. Keller nodded mutely. "We are here once and for all to prove that time-travel is impossible. It is the reason you are here." He spun and moved away down the hallway toward the bridge.

Keller hurried to follow, unsure what to say or even think. It seemed like it might have been a bad idea, but these were Vulcans. They rarely had bad ideas and, if they did, rarely suffered the consequence for them. Of course, that boded ill for Keller…

Keller stood on the bridge with the rest of the Vulcans, looking at the star they hovered about. It was an old, dying star, they said. One that was out of the way. No life was on either of its planets and no life would ever be. It was perfect for their experiment, whatever it was.

"This doesn't sound like a bad idea?" Keller asked one of them.

"Disproving a theory in pursuit of science?" one of the Vulcans asked him. Keller would have said the Vulcan was aghast, but that would be rather un-Vulcan.

"Messing with time," Keller corrected. "You really have no idea what you're doing, do you? What if time-travel is possible? What could happen?"

The Vulcans exchanged glances before looking back at Keller. As though talking to a child, one of them answered, "Time-travel is impossible. With this experiment, it will be proven and Archer will have to give up his insane theory."

"But that's not very logical is it?" Keller persisted. "Setting out on an experiment when you are already sure of the result?"

"_You_ are not sure," the Vulcan answered. "That is why we do it." He looked at a nearby companion and nodded.

A shimmering blue light emitted from the ship and into the star and, for a moment, it seemed like nothing was going to happen. Then the ship started to shake.

Before he could realize what had happened, before anyone could say anything at all, he saw what was next. Like an echo from the future, pulsing through the ship, he saw a wave of fire breaching the front of the bridge. The front wall of the room was engulfed, next the Vulcans, finally Keller. A moment, only a moment.

Then time caught up with them…

* * *

Daniel leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling. It had been five minutes. _I'll be ready to go in five minutes_, she said. He should have known better. Five minutes never meant five minutes. Ever. Sometimes it meant ten minutes. Sometimes it meant twenty. Sometimes, like right now, it meant forty-five. "Sam…" he said tentatively.

"Oh my god," Sam shouted just as he was about to go on, looking up from her computer console with a huge grin. "Daniel!" she went on, as though she had only just noticed that he was there. "I found it!"

"Found what?" Daniel asked. If she had said anything about looking for anything in the past forty-five minutes, Daniel didn't suppose he'd remember. Maybe it didn't even make sense.

She didn't answer. Not really, anyway. She picked up a nearby PADD and loaded information to it, all the time muttering, "Oh my god, oh my god." By the time she'd finished, Daniel had worked up quite a concern about whatever she was muttering about, but she looked so happy about whatever-it-was, he couldn't really be concerned. "Daniel!" she said again, hurrying toward him, almost jumping up and down. "I found it—oh my god!"

"What is it?" Daniel asked, looking at the PADD in her hand.

"This!" she said. "This is a map of the galaxy as we know it. As we know it back home, anyway. I reconstructed it from memory when we first arrived, mostly, but it's also from a map of our time frame from this universe."

"All right, I'm with you so far," Daniel said with a nod, inspecting the PADD closely. He couldn't remember much of the map now himself, but there had been a time when he would look at this map nearly every day at the SGC. He supposed someone with a memory like Sam's would be able to remember much more.

"This!" she said, pointing at an empty space on the map between one star and another.

Daniel looked closer, and then at Sam. "What about it?"

"There is a star here in our universe right now!" she said. "I mean—then! There's a star here and it's not here then. Now." Daniel smiled at how excited she was about this missing star, wishing this Sam might surface more often. "This star was right in the path of our wormhole back home."

"The possibility of time-travel…?" Daniel realized.

"Well, not really," Sam said. "At least, I didn't think so, but obviously I was wrong. But here's the interesting thing!" she said. "This is a star map of 2002 from _this_ universe."

"It's not there," Daniel said.

"Exactly," Sam said. "And I couldn't figure out why until I was looking into the history of time travel and alternate universes according to this universe. They don't have quantum mirrors like we do or anything like that. I found that the Vulcans, in the 2150s, were experimenting with time-travel and alternate universes and, at least in the 2150s according to the Vulcans, there was a star. Right here."

"But not—Sam. That doesn't make sense." Sam just smiled. "You expect me to believe that the Vulcans _erased_ a star. From the history of their universe?"

"Have we seen weirder things happen?" Sam asked.

Daniel didn't answer because he knew they had. That didn't mean Sam's theory was true, of course. But is also didn't mean it was false. And it was so weird… it was probably true. But how this all tied together… well, he guessed Sam might be able to explain it.

"Here's what I think happened," Sam said. "It's hard to tell with the records because—well, there was this whole mix-up and time-travel, and—it was a mess."

"I can imagine," Daniel agreed helpfully.

"Definitely. In short, the Vulcans attempted an experiment to disprove time-travel," Sam rattled on, "but they had no idea what they were doing. The star that they were experimenting on was not only in every moment at once, but also in every possible universe at once, including ours."

Daniel frowned. "What…? Doesn't that make it—"

"Exactly. They're lucky they didn't destroy the whole universe," Sam agreed.

"That's not exactly what I was going to say," Daniel said with a slight smile. Although, destroying the whole universe sounded serious. "I was going to ask if that means we can't use the same way of getting back. Because the star isn't here anymore. And we can't do the same experiment again because, if we're not lucky, we'll destroy the universe."

Sam looked shocked and dismayed. "You're… right…"

Daniel looked down. No reason to be glum about it. They were getting closer! Though it had taken years… "Well," he offered. "At least you found the cause. When I find a gate, we'll be just another step closer."


End file.
